Tunable three-port wavelength splitter, for optical communication and the multiplexing and de-multiplexing of optical signals
US9933573B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 25, 2016 |
| Grant date | Apr 3, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 12, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B6/32
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A tunable optical device uses a diffraction grating to angularly disperse a collimated beam carrying multiple wavelengths into multiple individually collimated wavelength beams, and then refocuses each of the individual collimated beams to its own focusing point on a moving plate that is located in the region of the focus plane. One or more reflective dots on the moving plate then selectively reflect particular wavelength(s) back to a first output port. The unselected wavelengths are transmitted through the moving plate, where they are then recombined and sent to a second output port. In a typical optical network architecture, the selected wavelength(s) could be viewed as the dropped traffic at a node of the optical network, while the unselected wavelengths could be viewed as the express traffic that is being passed to another node of the network. The device can also be used as a wavelength or beam combiner as well as a splitter.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.