Non-reciprocal optical element for photonic devices
AssigneeUniversite Laval
InventorTigran Galstian
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention relates to fabrication techniques for the creation of new optical elements, an asymmetric (non-reciprocal) diffraction grating and a passive nonlinear optical (visible, microwave, etc.) isolator (diode). It may have potential applications in the field of optical detection (spectrometers) and communications (circulators, wavelength division multiplexing circuits, etc.), etc. One of applications of this proposal is the significant reduction of the noise level in optical communication systems or any other optical systems using laser sources. Another potential interest of these diodes is the fabrication of integrated laser gyroscopes for applications in aviation, etc.
Claims9
A non-reciprocal optical element comprising:
- an optical medium coupled between a first port and a second port;
- a first Bragg grating recorded in the optical medium as a periodic variation of a respective first optical property of the optical medium;
- and
- a second Bragg grating recorded in the optical medium as a periodic variation of a respective second optical property of the optical medium, the second Bragg grating at least partially overlapping the first Bragg grating within the optical medium;
- whereby light of a predetermined wavelength traversing the optical medium from the first port toward the second port is substantially reflected, and light of the same wavelength traversing the optical medium from the second port toward the first port is substantially not reflected.
A non-reciprocal optical element comprising:
- an input port and an output port;
- a pair of wavelength self-shifting optical elements optically coupled between the input and output ports, the wavelength self-shifting optical elements being adapted to cause respective substantially equal and opposite wavelength changes of light traversing each element;
- and
- a filtering element optically coupled between the frequency self-shifting optical elements, the filtering element being adapted to substantially reflect light of a selected wavelength, and substantially pass light of other wavelengths;
- whereby light of a predetermined wavelength traveling in a forward direction between the input and output ports is shifted in wavelength away from the selected wavelength of the filtering element and thereby passes through the filtering element toward the output port, whereas light of the predetermined wavelength traveling in a reverse direction between the output port and the input port is shifted in wavelength to the selected wavelength of the filtering element and is thereby reflected back toward the output port.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.