Optical isolator, optical circuit, and rare-earth-doped fiber optical amplifier
US5283846A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 15, 1992 |
| Grant date | Feb 1, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 15, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S372/703
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
In a polarization dependency type optical isolator comprising wedgelike polarizing prisms 3 and 5 and a Faraday rotator 4, the mode field diameters of an input side fiber 1 and an output side fiber 7 are the same as that of a transmission fiber and an erbium-doped fiber to be connected to them. The shape and other features of each lens are controlled so that the spot size of a parallel ray which is converted from an incident ray by an input side lens 2 is equal to the spot size of a parallel ray which is converted by an output side lens 6 when a reference beam is irradiated from the fiber 7. In a rare-earth-doped fiber optical amplifier using an optical isolator which is configured in a manner similar to this, the connecting portion of the fiber and the optical isolator can be spliced by fusion without increasing the insertion loss of the optical isolator in the forward direction and the connection loss due to a difference in the mode field diameter is reduced. Therefore, the noise figure decreases and the gain increases.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.