Telescopic collimator and method of manufacture

A dual-fiber optical collimator, comprising:

• a first and second optical fiber, wherein the first optical fiber has an angled first facet and the second optical fiber has an angled second facet, and wherein the first and second optical fibers are each adapted to carry an optical signal;
• a first D-shaped ferrule including a first integral fiber bore for receiving and retaining the first optical fiber;
• a second D-shaped ferrule including a second integral fiber bore for receiving and retaining the second optical fiber;
• a first lens having first and second sides and a first focal length, wherein the first side of the first lens is positioned a distance of about the first focal length from first ends of the optical fibers;
• and
• a housing shaped for receiving and retaining the first and second D-shaped ferrules and the first lens.

A method for fabricating a dual-fiber optical collimator, comprising the steps of:

• providing first and second optical fibers, wherein the first optical fiber has an angled first facet and the second optical fiber has an angled second facet;
• providing a first D-shaped ferrule including a first integral fiber bore for receiving and retaining the first optical fiber;
• providing a second D-shaped ferrule including a second integral fiber bore for receiving and retaining the second optical fiber;
• providing a first lens having first and second sides and a first focal length, wherein the first side of the first lens is positioned a distance of about the first focal length from first ends of the optical fibers;
• and
• providing a housing for receiving and retaining the first and second D-shaped ferrules and the first lens.

A dynamic spectrum equalizer (DSE), comprising:

• a plurality of circulators each including at least one input optical fiber, output optical fiber and common optical fiber, wherein each of the input optical fibers is adapted to carry an optical signal;
• a telescopic collimator, including:
• a plurality of collimator input optical fibers each coupled to one of the common optical fibers;
• a first lens having first and second sides and a first focal length, wherein the first side of the first lens is positioned a distance of about the first focal length from first ends of the collimator input optical fibers;
• and
• a beam expander having first and second sides, wherein the first side of the beam expander is positioned to face the second side of the first lens and the second side of the beam expander provides collimated beams associated with the optical signals carried by the input optical fibers;
• a polarization beam separator receiving the collimated beams and separating the collimated beams into pairs of polarized beamlets that are substantially orthogonal to each other;
• a polarization rotator for rotating the polarity of one of the pairs of polarized beamlets provided by the polarization beam separator;
• a dispersive element providing a plurality of sets of beamlets whose propagation directions are dependent upon the beamlets wavelength;
• a focusing lens for receiving and directing the plurality of sets of beamlets;
• and
• a reflective spatial light modulator (SLM) for reflecting at least a portion of the beamlets focused onto individual pixels of the SLM by the focusing lens.