Wavelength selective switch
Granted: October 21, 2014
Patent Number:
8867016
Methods, systems, and apparatus, for optical switching. In one aspect, a wavelength selective switch includes one or more optical input ports; one or more optical output ports; a first optical wavelength dispersion element configured to separate the plurality of wavelength channels of the input optical beam; a second optical wavelength dispersion element configured to combine two or more separate optical beams each having one or more different wavelengths, into a combined beam having the…
Optical amplifier and control method for constant output power
Granted: August 27, 2013
Patent Number:
8520300
This specification describes technologies relating to controlling optical amplifiers. In one implementation, an optical amplifier is provided. The optical amplifier includes a light amplifying medium for receiving an input optical signal and outputting an output amplified signal; a first measuring block for measuring a change in power of the input signal; a pump laser for supplying pump light to the light amplifying medium; and an electronic control for controlling the power of the pump…
Optical amplifier output control based on change in detected input power
Granted: March 13, 2012
Patent Number:
8134776
This specification describes technologies relating to controlling optical amplifiers. In one implementation, an optical amplifier is provided. The optical amplifier includes a light amplifying medium for receiving an input optical signal and outputting an output amplified signal; a first measuring block for measuring a change in power of the input signal; a pump laser for supplying pump light to the light amplifying medium; and an electronic control for controlling the power of the pump…
Method for detecting a signal on a passive optical network
Granted: February 28, 2012
Patent Number:
8126334
A transceiver assembly is provided for use in an optical telecommunications network. The circuitry arrangement in the transceiver of the present invention generates a ranging signal that is transmitted along the fibers attached thereto and then filters the return signal in an manner that eliminates virtually all of the noise effects found on the fiber to provide a highly reliable timing signal for an accurate delay calculation. A band pass filter is supplied in line before the input…
Variable gain erbium doped fiber amplifier
Granted: March 22, 2011
Patent Number:
7911684
Systems, methods, and apparatuses are provided for variable gain optical fiber amplifiers. In one implementation, a variable gain optical amplifier is provided. The amplifier includes a first erbium doped fiber configured to receive an input optical signal, a second erbium doped fiber configured to output an output optical signal, a gain flattening filter positioned between the first erbium doped fiber and the second erbium doped fiber, a pump laser configured to provide energy to the…
Configurations and methods for manufacturing optical devices using an athermal platform
Granted: March 2, 2010
Patent Number:
7672551
The present invention discloses an improved optical device having at least a first and second optical components. The optical device further includes a first extending tube securely attached to the first and second optical components as a first building block wherein the first and second optical components are aligned and position adjusted in the position-holding-and-fixing means and securely attached thereto by a room-temperature UV curable epoxy UV cured at room temperature. The…
Carrier-suppressed optical time domain multiplexing
Granted: August 11, 2009
Patent Number:
7574139
A method and an apparatus for implementing carrier suppressed data format on conventional OTDM modules is provided. Adaptive phase shifting of optical signals traversing one of the tributaries of an OTDM module is performed with feedback loop control. A tapped portion of the input carrier signal is phase modulated at a frequency fc, and is combined with a tapped portion of the output from the OTDM. A phase shifter controller fed with this combined signal photodetects and band-pass…
Integrated optical dual amplifier
Granted: December 2, 2008
Patent Number:
7460298
An apparatus is provided comprising a dual optical amplifier. The two optical amplifiers are integrated, in that they share at a set of optical, electrical, or opto-electrical components. The two optical amplifiers may share a pump laser. Alternatively, the optical amplifiers may share photo-detectors. Methods of controlling the signal strength of output signals are also provided. A chip-based integrated optical dual amplifier, using Erbium-Doped Waveguides, is also provided.
Adaptive optical transponder
Granted: May 13, 2008
Patent Number:
7373087
Systems and methods for optical communications. In one implementation, a communications device is provided. The communications device includes an Optical domain Adaptive Dispersion Compensation Module (OADCM); an Electrical domain Adaptive Distortion Compensation Module (EADCM); and a controller coupled to, and operable to selectively control, both the OADCM and the EADCM.
Integrated optical multiplexer and demultiplexer
Granted: May 15, 2007
Patent Number:
7218451
Optical multiplexers and demultiplexers are provided. In one implementation an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a first laser diode pair, a second laser diode pair, a polarization rotator coupled between the first and the second laser diode pairs, and an output port. The first and second laser diode pairs include a first laser diode, a polarization beam splitter, a first quarter waveplate, a filter; a second quarter waveplate, and a second laser diode. The first and second…
3-port optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM)
Granted: February 27, 2007
Patent Number:
7184620
A low cost compact 3-port single-channel OADM with improved optical isolation is provided in which the I/O fibers and add/drop fiber are arranged on the same side. The 3-port OADM includes a 3-fiber pigtail and an angled reflector that together eliminate the second fiber collimator—one set of lenses and ferrules. The reflector is positioned behind and at angle to the free-space filter such that the add/drop optical signals are reflected back through the collimating lens to the…
Ultra broadband inductor assembly
Granted: November 28, 2006
Patent Number:
7142086
Systems and apparatuses for providing a broadband inductor assembly. One broadband inductor assembly includes a conical coil inductor having a broad end with radius r1 and a narrow end with radius r2, the conical coil inductor also having a broad end terminal and a narrow end terminal. The broadband inductor assembly includes a base. The broadband inductor assembly includes at least one support, such that the conical coil inductor is supported by the at least one support above the base…
Hybrid-integrated high-speed OTDM module
Granted: October 24, 2006
Patent Number:
7127174
A novel optical time division multiplexing (OTDM) module based on hybrid-integrated optical chips is disclosed. An integrated modulator chip generates optical RZ signal streams which are then interleaved in an integrated time-delay chip to produce an OTDM signal. The integrated modulator chip is coupled and secured to the integrated time-delay chip via a suitable optical index-matching layer or collimating lenses. Such an approach alleviates the stability problems offered by conventional…
Method and apparatus for optical switching
Granted: October 3, 2006
Patent Number:
7116480
An optical switch includes a first port, a second port, a first component group, a second component group, and a switching component group. The switching component group includes a reflector, a polarization beam splitter coupled to the reflector, and a polarization switch coupled to the polarization beam splitter. The first component group is coupled between the first port and the reflector in the switch component group. The second component group is coupled between the second port and…
Etalon based compact dispersion module
Granted: May 2, 2006
Patent Number:
7039261
Systems and methods for providing compact dispersion compensation modules. In one implementation, a dispersion compensation module includes a polarizer having a first port, a second port, and a third port. The dispersion compensation module also includes a reflection etalon and a quarter-waveplate positioned between the reflection etalon and the second port of the polarizer.
Depolarizer
Granted: May 2, 2006
Patent Number:
7039262
An optical depolarizer includes a birefringent block, a reflector coupled to the block, a first input port for providing polarized light to the block and an output port configured to receive polarized light from the block. The depolarizer optionally includes a non-reciprocal combination-device having a principal direction and including a first birefringent wedge, a second birefringent wedge, and a non-reciprocal rotating element. The non-reciprocal rotating element can be a Faraday…
Reduced element optical add-drop multiplexer
Granted: May 2, 2006
Patent Number:
7039271
A low cost compact integrated 4-port single-channel OADM with improved optical isolation and low insertion loss is provided in which a 4-fiber pigtail includes I/O fibers and add/drop fibers, which are arranged on the same side of the multiplexer. A lens, filter and reflector are arranged in a double-pass configuration to route the optical signals to and from the appropriate fibers. The fibers are suitably arranged with the input and drop fibers at the corners of one diagonal and the…
Suspended and truncated co-planar waveguide
Granted: April 25, 2006
Patent Number:
7034640
A suspended and truncated co-planar waveguide is described. The waveguide has a substrate with a substantially flat top surface and two lateral faces. A signal conductor and two ground conductors are placed on the top surface forming a ground-signal-ground pattern along a common plane. The waveguide has respective electrical side-wall boundaries on each of the two lateral faces of the substrate.
Miniature 1×2 magneto-optic switch
Granted: April 25, 2006
Patent Number:
7035497
A magneto-optical switch includes a birefringent crystal that receives a light beam, a half-wave plate pair that receives the light beam from the birefringent crystal, a Faraday rotator that receive the light beam from the half-wave plate, a prism that receives the light beam from the Faraday rotator, and a reflective surface that receives the light beam from the Faraday rotator. The Faraday rotator receives an electromagnetic field to change the polarization of the light beam as it…
Optical circuits for tunable second order PMD compensation and tunable dispersion compensation
Granted: April 11, 2006
Patent Number:
7027135
A method and an apparatus is provided for introducing tunable second order polarization mode dispersion compensation to an optical signal without introducing any first order polarization mode dispersion into the optical signal. A method and an apparatus is also provided for tunable chromatic dispersion compensation by rotating the polarization state of an input signal to match the chromatic like second order PMD compensation provided by the present invention. In one configuration,…
