Patent ID: 11960120
Assignee: FUJIKURA LTD.
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 8:
9. A device for aligning multicore fibers each having three or more cores disposed on a circumference centered on a central axis of a clad, each of the cores being disposed the same in each of a pair of the multicore fibers, the device comprising:
a rotating portion that rotates each of the pair of multicore fibers about the central axis;
a camera that captures images of side surfaces of each of the pair of multicore fibers; and
a processor;
wherein
in each of the multicore fibers, a plurality of corners are defined by adjacent line segments that connect a center of the clad to each of the cores, the plurality of corners including:
a first corner with a size of P° and two or more consecutive positions in a circumferential direction, and
a second corner with a size different from P°,

the rotating portion rotates each of the pair of multicore fibers by P° a number of times (N) rounded up such that N=360/P is an integer, wherein
for each of the N times, the rotating portion rotates each of the pair of multicore fibers in a state in which end surfaces of the pair of multicore fibers face each other such that the central axis of each of the pair of multicore fibers coincide with each other,

the camera captures a first set of images of the side surfaces of each of the pair of multicore fibers before and after each of the pair of multicore fibers is rotated by P°,
the processor determines, for each of the pair of multicore fibers, a similarity between an image from the first set of images captured before a rotation and an image from the first set of images captured after the rotation for each of the N times the multicore fiber is rotated by P°,
the processor determines specific relative rotation positions of the pair of multicore fibers in which a cross-correlation between a plurality of columns of similarities of one multicore fiber and a plurality of columns of similarities of an other multicore fiber becomes highest, and
the rotating portion rotates at least one of the pair of multicore fibers such that one multicore fiber and the other multicore fiber have a relationship of the specific relative rotation positions.