Integrated etalon-beam splitter
AssigneeFibera, Inc.
InventorsJohn C. Tsai, David W. Wang, George C.K. Chen, Joseph Methe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An integrated or hybrid-optical device (10) able to perform the functions of both a beam splitter and an etalon. A splitter interface (72), front-cavity interface (74), and rear-cavity interface (76) are provided and separate regions (78, 80, 82, 84) which may be of “air” (gas or vacuum) or solid materials. The front-cavity interface (74), the rear-cavity interface (76), and the interposed third region (82) define a Fabry Perot etalon, which may be either solid or air-spaced. In particular, the integrated optical device (10) has only the second region (80) interposed between the splitter interface (72) and the front-cavity interface (74).
Claims41
An optical device for splitting an incident beam of light into a reflected beam and a transmitted beam and selectively transmitting only a narrow bandwidth of the transmitted beam, the device comprising:
- a splitter interface adjoining a first region and a second region, wherein said splitter interface is suitable for splitting the incident beam into the reflected beam and the transmitted beam;
- a front-cavity interface adjoining said second region and a third region;
- a rear-cavity interface adjoining said third region and a fourth region;
- said front-cavity interface being oriented to receive the transmitted beam from said splitter interface and direct the transmitted beam onward toward said rear-cavity interface at a normal angle;
- and
- said front-cavity interface and said rear-cavity interface being fixedly spaced apart by said third region, being plainerly parallel, and both being partially reflective, thereby defining an optical cavity of a Fabry-Perot interferometer and providing both beam splitting and etalon functionality in the device.
An optical device for splitting an incident beam of light into a reflected beam and a transmitted beam and selectively transmitting only a narrow bandwidth of the transmitted beam, the device comprising:
- splitter interface means for splitting the incident beam into the reflected beam and the transmitted beam;
- front-cavity interface means for receiving the transmitted beam from said splitter interface means and passing the transmitted beam there through, wherein no intervening optical interfaces separate said front-cavity interface means from said splitter interface means;
- rear-cavity interface means for receiving the transmitted beam from said front-cavity interface means, wherein said front-cavity interface means and said rear-cavity interface means are plainerly parallel and fixedly spaced apart;
- said front-cavity interface means and said rear-cavity interface means both further for redirecting the transmitted beam there between a plurality of times;
- and
- said rear-cavity interface means further for ultimately passing the transmitted beam there through, thereby providing beam splitting and etalon functionality in an integrated manner.
A method for splitting an incident beam of light into a reflected beam and a transmitted beam and selectively transmitting only a narrow bandwidth of the transmitted beam, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) splitting the incident beam into the reflected beam and the transmitted beam at a splitter interface;
- (b) receiving the transmitted beam at a front-cavity interface from said splitter interface, wherein no intervening optical interfaces separate said splitter interface and said front-cavity interface;
- (c) passing the transmitted beam through said front-cavity interface and directing the transmitted beam toward a rear-cavity interface at a normal angle;
- (d) receiving the transmitted beam at said rear-cavity interface, wherein said front-cavity interface and said rear-cavity interface are plainerly parallel and fixedly spaced apart;
- (e) reflecting the transmitted beam between said front-cavity interface and said rear-cavity interface a plurality of times;
- and
- (f) passing the transmitted beam through said rear-cavity interface, thereby providing both integrated beam splitting and etalon functionality.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.