Patent ID: 7292765

Claim:
An optical fiber holding apparatus for holding at least front-end portion of an optical fiber, comprising: a stage having a loading plane on which the front-end portion of the optical fiber is placed and a loading structure provided on the loading plane for placing the front-end portion of the optical fiber along a predetermined direction; a lid section connected to said stage so as to enable, at least, a first posture sandwiching the front-end portion of the optical fiber together with said stage and a second posture exposing the loading plane of said stage; an arm having one end thereof rotatably connected to an abutment face of said lid section facing the loading plane of said stage in the first posture, said arm extending along the predetermined direction and having such a length that the other end thereof is positioned at the outside of the abutment face of said lid section; a fiber holding section provided at the other end of said arm for pressing a part of the optical fiber onto the loading plane of said stage; and an elastic member disposed between said lid section and said arm, said arm having a biasing force for pushing out the other end of the arm from the loading plane of the lid section with a constant pressure.