Environmentally stable monolithic Mach-Zehnder device
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsWilliam J. Miller, Daniel A. Nolan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A monolithic, environmentally stable Mach-Zehnder device is formed by threading first and second dissimilar optical fibers through the bore of a glass tube. The tube is evacuated and heated to collapse it onto the fibers. The tube is further heated and stretched at two spaced locations to form two couplers that are joined by the two optical fibers. The fibers have different propagation constants in the region between the two couplers, whereby there is a relative delay in the optical signal propagating in one of the fibers with respect to the optical signal propagating in the other fiber.
Claims19
A Mach-Zehnder device comprising
- an elongated body of matrix glass,
- first and second dissimilar optical fibers extending longitudinally through said body,
- a phase shift region in said body in which said fibers have different propagation constants, and whereby optical signals propagate through said optical fibers at different velocities in said phase shift region,
- two spaced coupler regions in said body at opposite ends of said phase shift region, the diameter of said body and the diameters of said fibers being smaller in said coupler regions than in said phase shift region.
A method of making a Mach-Zehnder device comprising
- inserting a plurality of optical fibers into the bore of a glass tube,
- evacuating said tube bore,
- heating said tube to collapse a first region of said tube onto said fibers,
- stretching the midregion of said first collapsed region to form a first coupling region,
- heating said tube to collapse a second region of said tube onto said fibers, and
- stretching the midregion of said second collapsed region to form a second coupling region that is spaced from said first coupling region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.