Low Cost Acrylic-Based 1×2 Asymmetric Plastic Optical Fiber Coupler for Optical Code Generating Devices

摘要

An optical code generating device has been developed based on a 1×2 asymmetric plastic optical fiber(POF) coupler.The code generating device provides a unique series of output power which are successively used as an optical code in a portable optical access-card system.The device utilizing a tap-off ratio(TOFR) technique based on a simple variation of the tap width of an asymmetric Y-branch splitter,allows various ratios of optical power to be generated.The POF coupler has been fabricated using low cost acrylic material and computer numerical control(CNC) machining technique.The simulated and fabricated results show the same linear characteristics between the TOFR and the tap width.The fabricated device enables a variation of the TOFR from 10% up to 50% for a tap width of 500 um to 1 mm.