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US 6,333,941 B1Granted
Tunable optical transmitter and tunable light source
AssigneeMicro Photonix Integration Corporation
InventorHenry Hung
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention is a tunable optical transmitter and light source in which a gain media is connected in an optical loop or resonator and a tunable filter is inserted in to the loop. A sensor is coupled to the loop and provides wavelength indicative signals that a processing unit utilizes in accordance with a predetermined algorithm to determine the wavelength of optical signals in the loop. The processing unit adjusts the tunable filter to a wavelength selected from a plurality of predetermined wavelengths.
Claims31
A tunable laser, comprising:
- an optical loop comprising an optical pump;
- an optical gain block pumped by said optical pump to produce broadband optical signals in said optical loop;
- a tunable filter disposed in said optical loop, said tunable filter filtering said broadband optical signals to provide tuned output optical signals at a predetermined selected wavelength in said loop;
- an optical wavelength sensor coupled to the output of said filter to generate wavelength indicative signals representative of the wavelength of said output optical signals;
- and
- a processing unit coupled to said optical wavelength sensor to generate control signals in accordance with a predetermined algorithm whereby said processing unit controls said tunable filter such that said output optical signals are at said predetermined selected wavelength.
3 more elements
A tunable optical transmitter, comprising:
- an optical loop comprising an optical pump;
- an optical gain block pumped by said optical pump to produce broadband optical signals in said optical loop;
- a tunable filter disposed in said optical loop, said tunable filter filtering said broadband optical signals to provide output tuned output optical signals at a predetermined selected wavelength in said loop;
- an optical wavelength sensor coupled to the output of said filter to generate wavelength indicative signs representative of the wavelength of said output optical signals;
- and
- a processing unit coupled to said optical wavelength sensor to generate control signals in accordance with a predetermined algorithm whereby said processing unit controls said tunable filter such that said output optical signals are at said predetermined selected wavelength;
- a modulator coupled to said loop to receive said output optical signals and coupled to a source of modulation information to modulate said output optical signals with said modulation information;
- and
- a coupler disposed in said loop to couple said output optical signals to said modulator.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.