Cascaded optical multiplexer
US6871022B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 14, 2001 |
| Grant date | Mar 22, 2005 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 22, 2023 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B6/2861
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for multiplexing and demultiplexing optical signals. An interleaver having a modified Mach-Zehnder interferometer as a first stage is used as a wavelength division multiplexer. This first stage is combined with one or more cascaded stages, each having a beam splitter and an optical delay element. A light beam including a number of signals at different wavelengths is received. The beam is split such that approximately half of each signal is contained in one of two sub-beams. One of the two sub-beams passes through a delay element, which provides a phase shift. The two sub-beams are recombined and split again. Each wavelength adds constructively or destructively in the new sub-beams such that the signals are separated—some wavelengths are in one of the new sub-beams, some are in the other. One of these sub-beams is delayed, and the two are combined and split again, improving the separation.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.