Patent · US Expired

Optical tunable filters and optical communication device incorporated therein optical tunable filters

US6798940B2 · kind B2 · utility

11Cited by
13References
7Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 9, 2001
Grant dateSep 28, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 9, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG02B6/357
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The disclosure concerns to an optical filter for use in an optical communication device such as a multiplexer and demultiplexer. The optical filter is a Fabry-Perot filter that is formed with a silicon substrate by using a silicon micromachining process and a silicon etching process. The optical filters are applied to various optical communication devices, such as multiplexer (MUX) or demultiplexer (DEMUX) In each of the optical communication devices, the optical filters are installed and integrated on the silicon substrate together with input/output optical fibers and collimating lenses, resulting in simplifying the manufacturing process thereof and, hence, in reducing the manufacturing cost thereof. Furthermore, each of the optical filters incorporates therein an actuator so as to be tunable (wavelength-selective) in the optical filtering function and to be capable of filtering more various wavelengths in a range.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.