Optical device
OwnerTsjerk Hans Hoekstrainventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical device comprises a substrate having at least one light-guiding core; a core-modifying element disposed at least partly within the light-guiding core, the core-modifying element being formed of a material different to the substrate material so that the refractive index difference between the material of the core-modifying clement and the light-guiding core is dependent upon the temperature of the core-modifying element; and a heating and/or cooling arrangement for altering the temperature of the core-modifying element.
Claims16
An optical device comprising:
- a substrate having at least one light-guiding core;
- a core-modifying element disposed at least partly within the light-guiding core, the core-modifying element being formed of a material different to the light-guiding core material so that the refractive index difference between the core-modifying element and the light-guiding core is dependent upon the temperature of the core-modifying element;
- and
- a heating and/or cooling arrangement for altering the temperature of the core-modifying element;
- wherein the core-modifying element is a refractive element formed and arranged so that a change in the refractive index of the core-modifying element causes light being transmitted along the core to be refracted by the core-modifying element so as to divert the path of the light.
An optical device comprising:
- a substrate having at least one light-guiding core;
- a core-modifying element disposed at least partly within the light-guiding core, the core-modifying element being formed of a material different to the light-guiding core material so that the refractive index difference between the core-modifying element and the light-guiding core is dependent upon the temperature of the core-modifying element;
- and
- a heating and/or cooling arrangement for altering the temperature of the core-modifying element;
- wherein the core-modifying element is formed and arranged so that a change in the refractive index of the core-modifying element alters the optical path length of light transmission along the core.
An optical device comprising:
- a substrate having at least one light-guiding core:
- a core-modifying element disposed at least partly within the light-guiding core, the core-modifying element being formed of a material different to the light-guiding core material so that the refractive index difference between the core-modifying element and the light-guiding core is dependent upon the temperature of the core-modifying element;
- and
- a heating and/or cooling arrangement for altering the temperature of the core-modifying element;
- wherein the core-modifying element comprises a grating formation formed and arranged such that a change in the refractive index of the core-modifying element alters the wavelength dependence of light transmission along the core.
A device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the rate of change of refractive index with temperature for the material of the core-modifying element has a greater magnitude than the rate of change of refractive index with temperature of the core material.
A device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the rate of change of refractive index with temperature for the material of the core-modifying element has the opposite sense to the rate of change of refractive index with temperature of the core material.
A device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the heating and/or cooling arrangement is arranged so as to alter the temperature of the core-modifying element with respect to the temperature of the light-guiding core.
A device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the heating and/or cooling arrangement comprises one or more electrical heating elements disposed on, over or alongside the core-modifying element.
A device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the heating and/or cooling arrangement comprises one or more electrical cooling elements disposed on or over the core-modifying element.
A device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the core-modifying element is formed of a polymer material.
A device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the heating and/or cooling arrangement is operable to set the temperature of the core-modifying element to a first operating condition in which the refractive index of the core-modifying element is substantially identical to the refractive index of the core, and to a second operating condition in which the refractive index of the core-modifying element is different to the refractive index of the core.
An optical switch array comprising a plurality of optical devices according to any one of the preceding claims.
An optical transmission system comprising a device, switch array or multiplexer according to any one of the preceding claims.
An optical device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to FIGS. 1a to 7, FIGS. 8 and 9, FIGS. 10 and 11 and/or FIGS. 12 and 13 of the accompanying drawings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.