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US 5,315,436 AGranted
Fiber optics system
OwnerHerman L. Lowenhar, Burton L. Hullandinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is apparatus for continuous wideband tuning of lasers, along with means for relating such tuning to a reference wavelength, by maintaining any desired offset from that reference wavelength. Also disclosed are multichannel fiber optics communications networks employing the above means, said networks being self organizing in terms of the wavelengths of their channels.
Claims42
An optical cavity comprising:
- an optical fiber in which a beam of light is propagated and an optical grating formed on a flexible, spoolable material on one reflective end of said cavity optically coupled thereto, said grating having grating lines formed as segments of rays diverging from a remote point of origin, and means for simultaneously and proportionally altering both the periodicity of the spacing between the intersection of the lines of such optical cavity with said beam of light such that the points of intersection between said rays and the optical fiber axis are spaced substantially equidistant and the effective length of the optical cavity is varied.
An optical cavity comprising:
- an optical fiber in which a beam of light is propagated and an optical grating formed on a flexible material on one reflective end of said cavity optically coupled thereto, said grating having grating lines formed by a focused laser beam swept successively to expose a photographically sensitized workpiece as segments of rays diverging from a remote point of origin, and means for simultaneously and proportionally altering both the periodicity of the spacing between the intersection of the lines of such optical cavity with said beam of light such that the points of intersection between said rays and the optical fiber axis are spaced substantially equidistant and the effective length of the optical cavity is varied.
A tuneable substantially single-line spectrum optical wavelength generator comprising:
- a laser with only one reflective surface embedded in an optical cavity;
- a grating coupled to the optical axis by controllable coupling means whose lines form the second relective end of said cavity to effect laser oscillation over its operating band;
- and
- means for simultaneously and in direct proportion altering both the perioidicity of the intersections of the grating with the optical axis and the laser effective cavity length at all grating periodicities to cause the laser to produce a substantially single-line spectral output at any desired point in the laser's operating band.
1 more element
In combination a substantially single-line spectrum optical wavelength generator comprising:
- a laser with only one reflective surface embedded in an optical cavity;
- a grating coupled to the optical axis by controllable coupling means forming the second relective end of said cavity to effect laser oscillation;
- means for simultaneously and in direct proportion altering both the periodicity of the intersections of the grating with the optical axis and the laser effective cavity length at all grating periodicities to cause the laser to produce a substantially single-line spectral output at any desired point in the laser's operating band;
- and
- an offset wavelength tracker (OWT) further comprising a spectrometer with effectively two input ports and effectively two detector arrays, and means for centering a spectral line from the first input port onto the first detector array.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.