Method for designing polarization maintaining couplers
AssigneeAlliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc.
InventorKevin W. Shirk
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Techniques for designing, configuring or manufacturing polarization maintaining couplers (e.g. fiber arrays or splitters) are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a pair of polarization maintaining couplers are designed by a method including forming V-shaped troughs in two platforms (e.g. silicon based); placing two fibers respectively in the troughs so that both of the platforms can be closed up as a whole part; and obtaining the pair of the polarization maintaining couplers by a precision cut of the whole part somewhere in the middle thereof.
Claims18
A method for producing a pair of polarization maintaining couplers, the method comprising:
- forming troughs in two platforms;
- placing two fibers respectively in the troughs so that both of the platforms can be closed up as a whole part;
- and
- obtaining the pair of the polarization maintaining couplers by a precision cut of the whole part somewhere in the middle thereof.
A method for producing a pair of polarization maintaining couplers, the method comprising:
- etching at least one trough respectively in each of two silicon structures;
- stripping a center portion of a fiber so that the fiber can be securely positioned in the trough of the two silicon structures;
- combining the two silicon structures with the center portion of the fiber therebetween to form a whole structure;
- and
- cutting the whole structure into two parts, each becoming one of the polarization maintaining couplers.
An apparatus of using a first and second polarization maintaining couplers, the apparatus comprising:
- a waveguide structure having a main channel and a side channel, the side channel branching out from the main channel within the waveguide structure;
- each of the polarization maintaining couplers having two ports;
- and
- wherein the waveguide structure is coupled between the polarization maintaining couplers, one of the two ports of the first polarization maintaining coupler connecting to the main channel of the waveguide structure, when a polarized light beam is coupled into the main channel via the one of the two ports of the first polarization maintaining coupler, a small amount of the polarized light beam is diverted into the side channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.