WO2000050934A1 - Wideband polarization splitter, combiner, isolator and controller - Google Patents
Wideband polarization splitter, combiner, isolator and controller Download PDFInfo
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- WO2000050934A1 WO2000050934A1 PCT/US2000/001926 US0001926W WO0050934A1 WO 2000050934 A1 WO2000050934 A1 WO 2000050934A1 US 0001926 W US0001926 W US 0001926W WO 0050934 A1 WO0050934 A1 WO 0050934A1
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- 230000010287 polarization Effects 0.000 title claims abstract description 180
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Classifications
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
- G02B6/26—Optical coupling means
- G02B6/27—Optical coupling means with polarisation selective and adjusting means
- G02B6/2746—Optical coupling means with polarisation selective and adjusting means comprising non-reciprocal devices, e.g. isolators, FRM, circulators, quasi-isolators
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/10—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type
- G02B6/12—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type of the integrated circuit kind
- G02B6/126—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type of the integrated circuit kind using polarisation effects
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
- G02B6/26—Optical coupling means
- G02B6/27—Optical coupling means with polarisation selective and adjusting means
- G02B6/2726—Optical coupling means with polarisation selective and adjusting means in or on light guides, e.g. polarisation means assembled in a light guide
- G02B6/274—Optical coupling means with polarisation selective and adjusting means in or on light guides, e.g. polarisation means assembled in a light guide based on light guide birefringence, e.g. due to coupling between light guides
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
- G02B6/26—Optical coupling means
- G02B6/27—Optical coupling means with polarisation selective and adjusting means
- G02B6/2753—Optical coupling means with polarisation selective and adjusting means characterised by their function or use, i.e. of the complete device
- G02B6/2773—Polarisation splitting or combining
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
- G02B6/26—Optical coupling means
- G02B6/28—Optical coupling means having data bus means, i.e. plural waveguides interconnected and providing an inherently bidirectional system by mixing and splitting signals
- G02B6/293—Optical coupling means having data bus means, i.e. plural waveguides interconnected and providing an inherently bidirectional system by mixing and splitting signals with wavelength selective means
- G02B6/29346—Optical coupling means having data bus means, i.e. plural waveguides interconnected and providing an inherently bidirectional system by mixing and splitting signals with wavelength selective means operating by wave or beam interference
- G02B6/2935—Mach-Zehnder configuration, i.e. comprising separate splitting and combining means
- G02B6/29352—Mach-Zehnder configuration, i.e. comprising separate splitting and combining means in a light guide
- G02B6/29355—Cascade arrangement of interferometers
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
- G02B6/26—Optical coupling means
- G02B6/28—Optical coupling means having data bus means, i.e. plural waveguides interconnected and providing an inherently bidirectional system by mixing and splitting signals
- G02B6/293—Optical coupling means having data bus means, i.e. plural waveguides interconnected and providing an inherently bidirectional system by mixing and splitting signals with wavelength selective means
- G02B6/29379—Optical coupling means having data bus means, i.e. plural waveguides interconnected and providing an inherently bidirectional system by mixing and splitting signals with wavelength selective means characterised by the function or use of the complete device
- G02B6/29395—Optical coupling means having data bus means, i.e. plural waveguides interconnected and providing an inherently bidirectional system by mixing and splitting signals with wavelength selective means characterised by the function or use of the complete device configurable, e.g. tunable or reconfigurable
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
- G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
- G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour
- G02F1/09—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on magneto-optical elements, e.g. exhibiting Faraday effect
- G02F1/093—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on magneto-optical elements, e.g. exhibiting Faraday effect used as non-reciprocal devices, e.g. optical isolators, circulators
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
- G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
- G02F1/29—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the position or the direction of light beams, i.e. deflection
- G02F1/31—Digital deflection, i.e. optical switching
- G02F1/313—Digital deflection, i.e. optical switching in an optical waveguide structure
- G02F1/3136—Digital deflection, i.e. optical switching in an optical waveguide structure of interferometric switch type
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- G—PHYSICS
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- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/10—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type
- G02B6/12—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type of the integrated circuit kind
- G02B2006/12133—Functions
- G02B2006/12157—Isolator
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
- G02B6/26—Optical coupling means
- G02B6/28—Optical coupling means having data bus means, i.e. plural waveguides interconnected and providing an inherently bidirectional system by mixing and splitting signals
- G02B6/293—Optical coupling means having data bus means, i.e. plural waveguides interconnected and providing an inherently bidirectional system by mixing and splitting signals with wavelength selective means
- G02B6/29379—Optical coupling means having data bus means, i.e. plural waveguides interconnected and providing an inherently bidirectional system by mixing and splitting signals with wavelength selective means characterised by the function or use of the complete device
- G02B6/29398—Temperature insensitivity
Definitions
- the present invention relates generally to polarization splitters, combiners and isolators, and particularly to a wavelength-insensitive apparatus for splitting or combining a randomly polarized light signal .
- Polarization is a critical parameter in optical communication technology.
- the fundamental mode of the fiber is the solution to the wave equation that satisfies the boundary conditions at the core-cladding interface.
- the fiber is deemed a single mode fiber because both solutions have the same propagation constant, at least in a perfectly cylindrical fiber.
- the two solutions are referred to as the polarization modes.
- the electric field associated with the fundamental mode is assumed to be a transverse field, with the polarization components being linearly polarized along the x and y directions. Thus, the polarization components are mutually orthogonal.
- the state of polarization refers to the distribution of light energy between the two polarization modes.
- the two polarization modes have slightly different propagation constants that give rise to pulse spreading. This phenomenon is called polarization mode dispersion.
- Optical fiber can be made polarization independent with respect to polarization mode dispersion, but the state of polarization can vary over all states, with respect to time, and be affected by environmental factors.
- a number of devices require incident light signals to be in a particular polarization state. The performance of such devices will change significantly with the state of incoming polarization. Thus, when the incident light signal is randomly polarized, the device will not function.
- PM fibers polarization maintaining fibers. While PM fiber will maintain the polarization state of the light signal, it is not practical for most communications systems for several reasons. First, attenuation is always higher for PM fiber. Second, in the event that some polarization coupling does occur, polarization mode dispersion will be very high. Third, PM fiber is expensive, the cost being dependent on the degree of polarization preservation needed. Thus, PM fiber is impractical for system-wide deployment.
- mechanical polarization controllers have been used to mechanically track the polarization over time. Usually, polarization tracking is performed in two stages. First, the state of polarization is measured. Then, the state of polarization of the receiver and the incoming light signal are adjusted to coincide.
- Mechanical polarization controllers are used in laboratories throughout the world to conduct telecommunications experiments. However, these devices are largely confined to the laboratory. Even under laboratory conditions these devices have several drawbacks. Mechanical polarization controllers are not robust and require constant supervision to ensure that they are in good working order. Even when the device is working properly, the polarization state must be tracked mechanically over time and there is no straight forward way to do this because there is no tap available.
- Polarized light splitters have been used to provide polarization sensitive devices with light signals having known polarization states.
- Polarized light splitters consist of an input beam splitter connected to a resonant structure, which is connected to an output beam splitter. The input beam splitter divides the light signal into parallel and perpendicular components which are then routed into the resonant structure. Light that is at or near the resonant wavelength is rotated by the resonant structure to a known polarization state. However, light that is not at or near the resonant wavelength passes through the resonant structure unchanged.
- the output beam splitter recombines the components into a light signal having a known polarization state.
- This light signal is available for use by the polarization sensitive receiver.
- resultant light signal is very narrow-band and only a few wavelengths wide because the spectral components of the signal not at or near the resonant wavelength have been filtered out. This method is also expensive.
- a wavelength-insensitive polarization splitter/combiner that can be used to split or combine wide-band polarized light signals, without loss of spectral information, in communications systems having polarization-sensitive components.
- cost is a major issue, such as in local or metropolitan area networks.
- the present invention provides a robust, inexpensive, and relatively wavelength insensitive polarization splitter/combiner that addresses the needs discussed above.
- a splitter/combiner is disclosed that can be fabricated using either fiber or planar technology. Light is split into orthogonal and parallel components. The polarization components can then be used by polarization-sensitive devices such as sensors, or amplifiers, before being recombined.
- the splitter/combiner of the present invention is also used as the basis for an isolator, circulator, and polarization controller.
- One aspect of the present invention is an optical device for directing a polarized light signal having mutually orthogonal polarization components.
- the optical device including a first port, a second port, a third port, and a fourth port.
- the optical device also includes: an antipodal phase generator for generating a first antipodal phase signal to selectively interfere with the first component and a second antipodal phase signal to selectively interfere with the second component, such that the polarized light signal is directed to the first port, the first component is directed to the third port and the second component is directed to the fourth port without a substantial loss of spectral information.
- the present invention includes a method for directing a polarized light signal, a first component and a second component, wherein the first component and the second component are mutually orthogonal polarization components of the polarized light signal in an optical device including a first port, a second port, a third port, and a fourth port.
- the method includes the steps of: providing an antipodal phase generator connected to the first port, the second port, the third port, and the fourth port, for processing the polarized light signal, the first component and the second component; generating at least one antipodal phase signal from an in-phase signal comprising either the first component or the second component; and subtracting the antipodal phase signal from the in-phase signal, wherein the polarized light signal is directed to the first port, the first component is directed to the third port, and the second component is directed to the fourth port without a substantial loss of spectral information.
- Figure 1 is a plan view of a polarization splitter/combiner in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention
- Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the first and optical arms taken through line X-X in Figure 1 ;
- Figure 3 is an example of a fiber coupler implementation of the first embodiment of the present invention;
- Figure 4 is an example of a planar coupler implementation of the first embodiment of the present invention.
- Figure 5 is a chart comparing the extinction ratio with the spectral bandwidth to illustrate the relative wavelength insensitivity of the optical device of the present invention
- Figure 6 is a plan view of an isolator/circulator in accordance with an alternate embodiment of the present invention.
- Figure 7 is a plan view of a polarization controller in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.
- Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view of the fourth optical arm in a fiber embodiment of the polarization controller taken through line Y-Y in Figure 7;
- Figure 9 is a detail view of a heater element on the fourth optical arm in a planar embodiment of the polarization controller shown in Figure 7.
- a wideband polarization splitter/combiner 10 includes an antipodal phase generator 12 for processing an incident polarized light signal.
- the antipodal phase generator 12 splits the polarized light signal into parallel and orthogonal components.
- the parallel polarization component is phase delayed an odd multiple of ⁇ radians with respect to the parallel component propagating in the other path 42, to thereby create antipodal signals.
- the orthogonal components in both optical paths are in- phase.
- wideband splitter/combiner 10 directs the orthogonal component of the polarized light signal out of port 64 and the parallel component of a polarized light signal out port 66.
- either component can be phase delayed, but not both.
- the antipodal phase generator 12 is not tuned to any resonant frequency, the resultant orthogonal and parallel components are wideband light signals.
- the present invention provides a robust, inexpensive, and relatively wavelength independent polarization splitter/combiner 10 that provides light having a known polarization state to polarization-sensitive devices such as sensors, amplifiers, or receivers.
- the wideband splitter/combiner 10 of the present invention is also used as the basis for an isolator, circulator, and a polarization controller.
- the present invention can be fabricated using either fiber or planar technology.
- antipodal phase generator 12 is a Mach-Zehnder that includes coupler 20 which is connected to ports 60 and 62. Coupler 20 is connected to optical arm 42 and optical arm 52. Optical arm 42 and optical arm 52 are connected to coupler 30. Coupler 30 is connected to ports 64 and 66. Optical arm 42 has a predetermined length 44 and optical arm 52 has a predetermined length
- Optical arm 42 includes an elliptical core 420 and a first cladding 422.
- Optical arm 52 includes a elliptical core 520 and cladding 522. The ellipticities of core 420 and core 520 are different and play an important function in the design of antipodal phase generator 12.
- Antipodal phase generator 12 may be of any suitable well-known type, but there is shown by way of example, a Mach-Zehnder device that is formed from polarization maintaining (PM) optical fiber 40 and polarization maintaining(PM) optical fiber 50.
- Optical arm lenghts 44 and 54 are approximately equal to 1cm.
- the elipticities and the relative indexes determine the propagation constants and hence, the generation of the antipodal phase signal.
- various combinations of these parameters can be used to generate the antipodal phase signal.
- the antipodal phase generator 12 is also implemented using planar waveguides. Both of these alternate embodiments will be discussed below in more detail.
- core 420 and 520 have approximately circular cross-sections in coupling regions 20 and 30. This is necessary to provide polarization maintainance. Outside of coupling regions 20 and 30, cores 420 and 520 are elliptical as described above.
- polarization splitter/combiner 10 when used as a splitter, a randomly polarized light signal is directed into port 60.
- the polarized light signal is coupled into arms 42 and 52 by coupler 20.
- arm 42 Before the light from arm 42 and arm 52 enters coupler 30, arm 42 carries the parallel polarization component and arm 52 carries a parallel polarization component that is phase shifted ⁇ radians with respect to the parallel component in arm 42.
- antipodal phase signals of the parallel polarization component are generated.
- Coupler 30 has a subtractive effect. When the parallel antipodal signals are coupled, they perfectly interfere with each other and the parallel polarization component is destroyed due to destructive interference. Thus, only the orthogonal polarization component appears at port 64. The opposite effect occurs with respect to the orthogonal polarization component and only the parallel component appears at port 66.
- an orthogonally polarized light signal is directed into port 64 and a parallel polarized light signal is directed into port 66.
- optical device 10 is bidirectional and operates in reverse fashion from what was described with respect to the splitter.
- Each polarization component is coupled into arms 42 and 52. Arms 42 and 52 generate antipodal signals before directing the light into coupler 20.
- the polarized light signal appears at port 60 because of the constructive interference and no signal appears at port 62 because of the destructive interference of the antipodal signals generated and subsequently combined in coupler 20.
- the operating principles of the present invention that establish the relationship between the signal power output at each port and the ellipticities, the relative indexes, and the propagation constants in each fiber arm are as follows.
- ⁇ is the propagation constant for a elliptical core fiber.
- the polarization correction for the propagation constants are:
- the index i refers to the first or second fiber
- R x and R y are the cross-sectional length and width dimensions of the elliptical core
- V x and V y are fiber parameters.
- Fiber parameters V x and V y are a function of k, R x , R y , the index of the core and the relative index of the core and clad.
- the ellipticities, the relative indexes, and the propagation constants are chosen such that in a given port the signal power for one of the components is zero.
- the parameters could be chosen so that the y-polarization comes out the first port and the x-polarization component comes out the second port.
- the arms are designed such that P y ⁇ and P x2 are completely canceled.
- the polarization splitter/combiner 10 of the first embodiment of the present invention may be of any suitable well-known type, but there is shown by way of example in Figure 3, a fiber coupler implementation.
- the first optical waveguide 40 and second optical waveguide 50 are phase maintaining (PM) optical fibers, each having an elliptical core and cladding, as shown in Figure 2.
- Both fibers 40 and 50 are disposed within a glass tube which is heated and collapsed around the fibers to form overclad 80. The heated device is then drawn to reduce the diameter thereof, to form evanescent couplers 20 and 30.
- PM fibers phase maintaining
- the polarization splitter/combiner 10 of the first embodiment of the present invention shown in Figure 1 can be implemented using a planar coupler arrangement.
- Coupler 20 is formed by disposing the first optical waveguide 40 and second optical waveguide 50 in close proximity to one another such that the evanescent field of the mode propagating in waveguide 40 enters waveguide 50.
- Coupler 30 is formed in like manner.
- the first optical waveguide 40 and second optical waveguide 50 are phase maintaining waveguides that are formed from a wafer having an underclad layer and a waveguide core layer deposited on substrate 90.
- the waveguide structure can be formed using standard photolithographic techniques.
- Figure 5 is a chart showing the wavelength insensitivity of optical device 10 of the present invention.
- the chart shows a bandwidth comparison between the present invention and resonant beam splitter devices with respect to the extinction ratio.
- Resonant beam splitter devices have a bandwidth from a few nanometers to approximately ten nanometers.
- Optical device 10 of the present invention is relatively wavelength independent. There is a 20dB separation between the orthogonal component and the parallel component over a bandwidth range of at least lOOnm.
- FIG. 6 a plan view of an isolator/circulator is disclosed.
- Antipodal phase generator 12 is connected to half-waveplate 110.
- the half-waveplate 110 rotates incident polarized light signals by 22.5°.
- Half-waveplate 110 is connected to a non-reciprocal rotator element 120.
- the non-reciprocal rotator element 120 is connected to a second antipodal generator 14 that is in turn, connected to port 68.
- Antipodal phase generator 14 may be of any suitable well-known type, but there is shown by way of example, a Mach-Zehnder device that is formed from polarization maintaining (PM) optical fiber 40 and polarization maintaining(PM) optical fiber 50.
- Antipodal generator 14 is identical to antipodal generator 12 and operates as the combiner described above.
- the non-reciprocal rotator element 120 may be of any suitable well-known type, but there is shown by way of example, a Farady rotator that non-reciprocally rotates a polarized light signal by 45°. If the rotated signal is reflected back to element 120, it will be rotated an additional 45°. This rotation is non-reciprocal because it does not cancel the first rotation. Thus, the reflected signal will be rotated by 90° with respect to the incident light signal.
- Isolator/circulator 10 as depicted in Figure 6 is as follows. A randomly polarized light signal is directed into exterior port 60.
- Antipodal phase generator 12 operates as the splitter described above, such that an orthogonal polarization component exits exterior port 64 and a parallel polarization component exits exterior port 66.
- the half wave-plate 110 rotates both signals 45°.
- the non- reciprocal rotating element also rotates both polarization components an additional 45° and the signals are input to antipodal phase generator 14.
- Antipodal phase generator 14 combines the orthogonal and parallel components as described above with respect to the first embodiment of the present invention.
- the polarized light signal is directed into port 68.
- the function of an isolator is to keep unwanted reflections from propagating back through exterior port 60 and damaging transmitters and other devices.
- Antipodal phase generator 12 produces antipodal signals for each component such that both reflected polarization components are destroyed by destructive interference and do not appear at exterior port 60.
- antipodal phase generator combines the orthogonal and parallel components through constructive interference and a reflected polarization signal having both components appears at port 62.
- a plan view of a polarization controller 10 is disclosed.
- Antipodal phase generator 12 is connected to arm 46 at exterior port 64 and to arm 56 at exterior port 66.
- Optical arms 46 and 56, respectively, are connected to a third coupler 130.
- Coupler 130 is connected to port 68.
- antipodal phase generator 12 is identical to one described with respect to the first embodiment described above, and depicted in Figures 1 and 2.
- both arms 46 and 56 of phase shifting element 14 include flexure "f ' which is approximately 0.1mm. This flexure introduces a 180° phase delay between arm 46 and arm 56 causing the light from both arms 46 and 56 to couple into exterior port 68.
- the 0.1mm flexure is fine tuned by monitoring the light power output from arm 56 with a servo mechanism. Arms 46 and 56 are flexed until the power out equals zero.
- the third optical arm 46 is a portion of PM optical fiber 40.
- arms 42 and 46 are fabricated from the same fiber and hence, have the same core, cladding, and propagation constants.
- optical arm 56 taken through line Y-Y in Figure 7 is shown.
- the optical arm includes segment 560 which has an elliptical core 562, centered around the optical axis 572 of optical arm 56.
- Segment 560 is connected to a middle segment 564, which also has an elliptical core 566.
- Core 566 is rotated around optical axis 572, 45° with respect to core 562.
- Segment 564 has a length equal to one beat length of the polarized signal and is connected to segment 568, which also has an elliptical core 570. Core 570 is aligned with core 562 and not rotated around axis 572. As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, optical arm 56 acts to alter the optical path length and rotate the signal 45° for one beat length. Optical arm 56 is fabricated by cutting PM optical fiber 50 and splicing middle segment 564 into arm 56.
- FIG. 9 is a detail view of a heater element on the fourth optical arm. It performs the same function in the planar embodiment as does the segmented fourth arm in the fiber coupler embodiment.
- the first optical waveguide 40 and second optical waveguide 50 are formed from a wafer having an underclad layer and a waveguide core layer deposited on substrate 90.
- the waveguide structure can be formed using standard photolithographic techniques. However, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art that modifications and variations can be made in implementing the planar arrangement shown in Figure 5. For example, UV beam illumination, ion implantation or any suitable technique may be employed.
- heater electrode 574 is deposited near arm 56.
- the refractive index of arm 56 changes in accordance with its dn/dT coefficient. The change in index results in a change in the optical path length and the phase of the signal propagating in the waveguide is altered.
- the material of the fourth optical arm is chosen to rotate a given signal 45° for one beat length and cause a 180° delay between arm 46 and arm 56.
- Polarization controller depicted in Figures 7-9 operates as follows. A randomly polarized light signal is directed into port 60.
- Antipodal phase generator 12 operates as the splitter described above with respect to the first embodiment, such that an orthogonal polarization component exits coupler 30 and is directed into the third optical arm 46.
- the parallel polarization component exits coupler 30 and is directed into the fourth optical arm 56.
- the orthogonal component propagates in the third arm 46 and is directed into coupler 130.
- the parallel polarization component propagates in optical arm 56 and is rotated 45° by the middle segment 564 in the fiber coupler embodiment or, by the heater in the planar embodiment. Because of constructive interference, an orthogonally polarized light signal exits the polarization controller at exterior port 68.
- the polarization controller takes a randomly polarized light signal and outputs a light signal having a known polarization.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
JP2000601473A JP2002538486A (en) | 1999-02-26 | 2000-01-27 | Broadband polarization splitters, combiners, isolators, and controllers |
CA002363671A CA2363671A1 (en) | 1999-02-26 | 2000-01-27 | Wideband polarization splitter, combiner, isolator and controller |
AU28601/00A AU2860100A (en) | 1999-02-26 | 2000-01-27 | Wideband polarization splitter, combiner, isolator and controller |
EP00907036A EP1181585A4 (en) | 1999-02-26 | 2000-01-27 | Wideband polarization splitter, combiner, isolator and controller |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US09/258,631 US6175668B1 (en) | 1999-02-26 | 1999-02-26 | Wideband polarization splitter, combiner, isolator and controller |
US09/258,631 | 1999-02-26 |
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WO2000050934A1 true WO2000050934A1 (en) | 2000-08-31 |
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Family Applications (1)
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PCT/US2000/001926 WO2000050934A1 (en) | 1999-02-26 | 2000-01-27 | Wideband polarization splitter, combiner, isolator and controller |
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US (1) | US6175668B1 (en) |
EP (1) | EP1181585A4 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2002538486A (en) |
CN (1) | CN1347510A (en) |
AU (1) | AU2860100A (en) |
CA (1) | CA2363671A1 (en) |
TW (1) | TW440725B (en) |
WO (1) | WO2000050934A1 (en) |
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- 2000-01-27 WO PCT/US2000/001926 patent/WO2000050934A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 2000-01-27 EP EP00907036A patent/EP1181585A4/en not_active Withdrawn
- 2000-01-27 AU AU28601/00A patent/AU2860100A/en not_active Abandoned
- 2000-01-27 JP JP2000601473A patent/JP2002538486A/en active Pending
- 2000-01-27 CN CN00804290A patent/CN1347510A/en active Pending
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EP1436649A2 (en) * | 2001-10-17 | 2004-07-14 | Corning Incorporated | Planar-type polarization independent optical isolator |
EP1436649A4 (en) * | 2001-10-17 | 2005-09-14 | Corning Inc | Planar-type polarization independent optical isolator |
EP1389739A1 (en) * | 2002-08-13 | 2004-02-18 | Alcatel Optronics France | Optical circulator using planar lightwave circuits |
EP1749236A2 (en) * | 2004-02-12 | 2007-02-07 | Panorama Flat Pty Ltd. | Apparatus, method, and computer program product for transverse waveguided display system |
EP1749236A4 (en) * | 2004-02-12 | 2007-08-01 | Panorama Labs Pty Ltd | Apparatus, method, and computer program product for transverse waveguided display system |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
US6175668B1 (en) | 2001-01-16 |
JP2002538486A (en) | 2002-11-12 |
TW440725B (en) | 2001-06-16 |
EP1181585A4 (en) | 2005-04-20 |
EP1181585A1 (en) | 2002-02-27 |
AU2860100A (en) | 2000-09-14 |
CA2363671A1 (en) | 2000-08-31 |
CN1347510A (en) | 2002-05-01 |
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