Efficient micro waveguide coupling based on microrobotic positioning

Coupling the endface of an optical fiber to an integrated optical component is currently a low-throughput and costly manual process in the fabrication of the optical devices. In order to meet the high-volume demand for commercial optoelectronic devices, coupling must be automated. This paper presents a robotic positioning system and corresponding path planning strategy based on both the position and light intensity feedback. In this work, a micro-robotic positioning system with 3 degrees of freedoms (DOFs) is developed and integrated with an optical microscopy. Then the fuzzy controller is developed to design the trajectory. Lastly, simulation and experimental results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed system. Compared with the traditional manual method, the robotic positioning system can realize the coupling within 40 seconds. This method will have a significant impact on the automatic process of the micro manufacture field.