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US 6,807,357 B2Granted
Saturable optical absorber, and an application thereof to regenerating a wavelength division multiplexed signal
AssigneeAvanex Corporation
InventorAlexandre Shen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A saturable optical absorber component is made of an inhomogeneous absorption material including a plurality of sets of quantum boxes formed in stacked layers. The sizes of the quantum boxes of each set define an absorption wavelength associated with the set.
Claims7
A saturable optical absorber comprising:
- an inhomogeneous absorption material comprising:
- a plurality of sets of quantum boxes, wherein said sets are associated with respective different absorption wavelengths, said quantum boxes of a given set have dimensions chosen to obtain an absorption wavelength associated with said set, and said quantum boxes are disposed in a plurality of stacked layers;
- wherein said absorber is adapted to enable an incident optical wave to pass through said stacked layers;
- and
- two mirrors disposed on respective opposite sides of said stacked layers and parallel to or slightly inclined to said stacked layers.
2 more elements
A method of using a saturable absorber to regenerate a wavelength division multiplexed signal, comprising:
- providing a saturable optical absorber comprising:
- an inhomogeneous absorption material comprising:
- a plurality of sets of quantum boxes, wherein said sets are associated with respective different absorption wavelengths, said quantum boxes of a given set have dimensions chosen to obtain an absorption wavelength associated with said set, and said quantum boxes are disposed in a plurality of stacked layers;
- and
- two mirrors disposed on respective opposite sides of said stacked layers and parallel to or slightly inclined to said stacked layers;
- wherein said absorber is adapted to enable an incident optical wave to pass through said stacked layers;
- and
- passing a wavelength division multiplexed signal through said absorber, wherein the absorber will substantially reduce noise present in the signal.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.