Multiplexing device with precision optical block
US5859717A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 14, 1997 |
| Grant date | Jan 12, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 14, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B6/29395
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An optical multiplexing device demultiplexes collimated light from a fiber-optic source into separate individual wavelength sub-ranges or channels, and/or multiplexes separate channels to a common fiber-optic waveguide or other destination. An optical block defines an optical gap between two parallel surfaces having an optical port on a first such parallel surface for passing the multi-channel collimated light into the optical gap. A channel port and at least one other reflective element, e.g., multiple channel ports arrayed in spaced relation to each other, are secured to the optical block at the parallel surfaces, providing an unobstructed, epoxy-free multi-point light path within the optical gap. At each channel port an interference filter secured to the optical block spans the optical gap. Each filter transmits a wavelength sub-range of the multi-channel collimated light passed by the optical port, and reflects other wavelengths. Thus, a wavelength sub-range of the multi-channel light passed through the optical gap to a first channel port, which is in-band of that first channel port, is transmitted through that first channel port. Light not transmitted through that first channe…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.