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US 7,379,168 B2Granted
Polarization diversity detection without a polarizing beam splitter
AssigneeLuna Innovations Incorporated
InventorsMark E Froggatt, Brian J Soller, Matthew S Wolfe
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Abstract
A fiber optic measurement device including an optical frequency domain reflectometer (OFDR) performs polarization diversity detection without using a polarizing beam splitter.
Claims19
A fiber optic measurement device comprising an optical frequency domain reflectometer (OFDR), comprising:
- a laser light source for generating light;
- a splitter for splitting the light from the laser and providing part of the light to a measurement path and part of the light to a reference path;
- and
- a polarization diversity detector for combining light from the measurement path that includes a first interference signal having a first polarization and light from the reference path that includes a second interference signal having a second different polarization,
- wherein the polarization diversity detector is configured to perform polarization diversity detection on the combined light that includes the first interference signal having the first polarization and the second interference signal having the second polarization without using a polarizing beam splitter.
2 more elements
A fiber optic measurement device comprising an optical frequency domain reflectometer (OFDR) configured to employ polarization diversity detection without using a polarizing beam splitter, comprising:
- a first coupler for receiving a first optical signal from a device or system under test and generating first and second coupler outputs;
- a second coupler for receiving a second optical signal from a reference source and generating third and fourth coupler outputs;
- a polarization controller (PC) for changing a polarization state of the third coupler output and generating a PC output;
- a third coupler for receiving the first coupler output and the PC output and generating a first combined output;
- and
- a fourth coupler for receiving the second coupler output and the fourth coupler output and generating a second combined output.
3 more elements
An optical frequency domain reflectometer (OFDR) configured to employ polarization diversity detection comprising:
- a first coupler for receiving a first optical signal from a device or system under test and generating first and second coupler outputs;
- a second coupler for receiving a second optical signal from a reference source and generating third and fourth coupler outputs;
- a polarization controller (PC) for changing a polarization state of the third coupler output and generating a PC output;
- a third coupler for receiving the first coupler output and the PC output and generating a first combined output;
- a fourth coupler for receiving the second coupler output and the fourth coupler output and generating a second combined output;
- a first detector for detecting a first power of the first combined output in a first projection plane;
- a second detector for detecting a second power of the second combined output in a second projection plane;
- and
- processing circuitry for processing interference terms of the first and second powers in the first and second projection planes to determine one or more characteristics of the first optical signal.
6 more elements
A method performed in an optical frequency domain reflectometer (OFDR), comprising:
- generating laser light;
- splitting the laser light;
- providing part of the laser light to a measurement path and part of the laser light to a reference path;
- processing light from the measurement path that includes a first interference signal having a first polarization and light from the reference path that includes a second interference signal having a second different polarization to perform polarization diversity detection on the combined light that includes the first interference signal having the first polarization and the second interference signal having the second polarization without using a polarizing beam splitter;
- and
- detecting one or more parameters of light from the measurement path based on the polarization diversity detection.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.