Multi-mode interference optical waveguide device
AssigneeQinetiq Limited
InventorsRichard Michael Jenkins, Mark Edward McNie
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Abstract
A multi-mode interference (MMI) device, comprising a hollow core multi-mode waveguide optically coupled to at least one hollow core input waveguide, is described in which the internal surfaces of the hollow core waveguides carry a reflective coating. The coating may be a low refractive index material at the wavelength of operation, such as a metal, or a multiple layer dielectric stack. Resonators and optical amplifiers using such (MMI) devices are also described.
Claims27
A multi-mode interference device comprising a hollow core multi-mode waveguide region optically coupled to at least one hollow core input waveguide, wherein the internal surfaces of said hollow core waveguides carry a reflective coating.
An optical amplifier comprising a 1-to-N way beam splitter, a multiple element optical amplifier, and a beam recombiner connected in optical series, the optical amplifier acting on at least one output of the 1-to-N way beam splitter, wherein at least one of the 1-to-N way beam splitter and beam recombiner comprise a hollow core multi-mode interference device comprising a hollow core multi-mode waveguide region optically coupled to at least one hollow core input waveguide, wherein the internal surfaces of said hollow core waveguides carry a reflective coating.
A resonator comprising:
- a partial reflector,
- a splitter/recombiner means,
- a multi-element optical amplifier, and
- a reflector,
- the partial reflector, splitter/recombiner means, multi-element optical amplifier and reflector being arranged such that the splitter/recombiner means splits a single beam into N beams where N is greater than or equal to 2, each of the N beams are amplified by the multi-element optical amplifier, reflected by the reflector and redirected to pass back through the multi-element optical amplifier, the N beams then being recombined by the splitter/recombiner means to form a single beam, a portion of that single beam exiting the resonator through the partial reflector,
- wherein the splitter/recombiner means is a hollow core multi-mode interference device comprising a hollow core multi-mode waveguide region optically coupled of at least on hollow core input waveguide, wherein the internal surfaces of said hollow core waveguides carry a reflective coating.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.