Filtre optique reconfigurable
AssigneeAlcatel
InventorsIsabelle Riant, Christian Belouet
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tunable optical filter comprising an index grating produced in a waveguide defining a longitudinal direction of propagation of an incident optical signal, said grating being defined by a plurality of optical parameters, is characterized in that the optical guide contains semiconductor nanoparticles and in that the index grating is made up of a refractive index variation in the guide that is at least partly induced by a Kerr effect linked to the 3rd order dielectric susceptibility (χ3) of said nanoparticles, at least one of said parameters of said index grating being modified by application of an optical control signal coupled into the guide and propagating longitudinally in said guide.
Claims11
A tunable optical filter comprising an index grating produced in a waveguide defining a longitudinal direction of propagation of an incident optical signal, said grating being defined by a plurality of optical parameters, which filter is characterized in that the optical guide contains semiconductor nanoparticles and in that the index grating is made up of a refractive index variation in the guide that is at least partly induced by a Kerr effect linked to the 3rd order dielectric susceptibility (χ3) of said nanoparticles, at least one of said parameters of said index grating being modified by application of an optical control signal coupled into the guide and propagating longitudinally in said guide.
A method of producing a tunable optical filter consisting of an index grating disposed in an optical waveguide, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:
- inserting semiconductor nanoparticles into the waveguide;
- adjusting the size and the shape of said nanoparticles to obtain a high 3rd order dielectric susceptibility (χ3) over a portion of the guide;
- and
- applying an optical control signal coupled longitudinally into the guide to modify a parameter of the index grating by the Kerr effect.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.