Bulk optical interferometer
AssigneeJDS Uniphase Corporation
InventorsFeng Liang, Heping Zheng, Li Wu, Jiwu Ling
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Abstract
The present invention relates to an optical interferometer based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer that can be used as an optical channel interleaver in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) and dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) optical networks. Optical channel interleavers/de-interleavers combine sets of WDM and DWDM channels for transmission over a network and/or separate WDM and DWDM signals into sets of channels with more convenient channel spacing for further de-multiplexing. The interferometer according to the present invention utilizes a ring resonator in each arm thereof as a phase shifter to provide a flat-top wavelength response with wide pass-bands and stop-bands.
Claims15
An optical interferometer device comprising:
- a first input port for launching an input optical beam;
- a first beam-splitter for separating the input optical beam into first and second sub-beams traveling along first and second paths, respectively;
- a first ring resonator positioned in the first path including at least two substantially fully reflective surfaces and a first partially reflective surface, the first partially reflective surface for passing a portion of the first sub-beam into the first ring resonator, while reflecting the remainder of the first sub-beam away therefrom, whereby light exiting the first ring resonator after a first resonator delay is combined with the remainder of the first sub-beam forming a first recombined sub-beam;
- a second ring resonator positioned in the second path including at least two substantially fully reflective surfaces and a second partially reflective surface, the second partially reflective surface for passing a portion of the second sub-beam into the second ring resonator, while reflecting the remainder of the second sub-beam away therefrom, whereby light exiting the second ring resonator after a second resonator delay is combined with the remainder of the second sub-beam forming a second recombined sub-beam;
- a second beam splitter for receiving the first and second recombined sub-beams resulting in the interference thereof and the production of a first output beam and a second output beam;
- a first output port for outputting the first output beam;
- and
- a second output port for outputting the second output beam.
A Mach-Zehnder interferometer comprising:
- a beam splitter for separating an input beam of light into a first sub-beam and a second sub-beam, and for directing the first and second sub-beams along first and second arms, respectively, of the interferometer;
- a first ring resonator in the first arm of the interferometer having a first resonator delay for effecting the phase response of the first sub-beam;
- a second ring resonator in the second arm of the interferometer having a second resonator delay for effecting the phase response of the second sub-beam;
- a beam combiner/splitter for interfering the first and second sub-beams resulting in first and second output beams.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.