Fiber coupler and method and apparatus for manufacturing the same

Abstract

A fiber coupler includes first and second optical fiber groups and a fused-elongated region. The first optical fiber group is obtained by parallelly arranging a plurality of optical fibers on a single plane, a coating of each of the optical fibers being removed throughout a predetermined portion at the same position as that of an adjacent optical fiber in a longitudinal direction. The second optical fiber group is obtained by parallelly arranging adjacent optical fibers on a predetermined plane parallel to an arrange plane of the first optical fiber group at the same pitch as that of the first optical fiber group, a coating of each of the optical fibers being removed throughout a predetermined portion at the same position as that of an adjacent optical fiber in a longitudinal direction as the first optical fiber group. The fused-elongated region is located at a portion of the predetermined portions from which the coatings are removed and obtained by fusing/elongating at least some optical fibers of the first optical fiber group with at least some optical fibers of the second optical fiber group so that corresponding optical fibers are fused/elongated. A plane including centers of two cores of the optical fibers fused with each other at the fused-elongated region is arranged substantially perpendicular to the arrange planes of said first and second optical fiber groups, and at least a portion of the first and/or second optical fiber groups is a fiber ribbon obtained by integrally forming a plurality of optical fibers each having a core and a clad by a coating.