The invention proceeds from an optical plug-in connector, having a first plug part and a second plug part which can be latched to said first plug part, wherein the optical plug-in connector has, along a plug axis, a plug-in region in a front region and a connection region in a rear region.
Optical plug-in connectors of this kind are required in order to establish a releasable connection between two optical conductors or cables and to release said connection again. Coupling of two optical conductors is very complicated since the connection has to be free of contaminants and is therefore highly susceptible to faults.
The light exit and light entry areas of the optical conductors have to be extremely clean and free of contaminants in order for contact to be made. In the plug-connected state, it is also necessary to ensure that, as far as possible, no contaminants, moisture or dust come into contact with the contact points. Any kind of foreign body on the coupling point between the conductors has an adverse effect on the transmission accuracy of the plug-in connector.
In order to reduce the influence of foreign bodies on the transmission point, so-called beam widening is often used in optical plug-in connectors. In this case, the optical beam which exits from the optical conductor is widened by means of a lens. The diameter of the light beam is increased in size and oriented in parallel by the lens. Contaminants made up of small particles are smaller in relation to the light beam with its relatively large cross section obtained in this way. The widened light beam is therefore less sensitive to contaminants, soiling and moisture than the light beam in its original size. Therefore, optically widened light beams are advantageously used in the field of optical plug-in connectors.
One problem with plug-in connectors of this kind is created by the production method. A high degree of accuracy is required for producing optical plug-in connectors which are intended to widen an optical beam, transmit said optical beam and focus said optical beam again. Many traditional production methods, such as injection-molding methods for example, are highly inaccurate for this purpose.
The primary reason for this is that, in the injection-molding method, different areas of the article produced are provided in different moldings. When these different moldings are assembled, relatively large tolerances occur, these tolerances being transferred to the manufactured article.