Optical delay lines for electrical skew compensation
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A skew compensated opto-electrical apparatus, comprising:
- a signal converter mounted on a substrate configured to convert at least two optical signals into at least two electrical signals, said at least two electrical signals comprising a first electrical signal and at least one other electrical signal, said at least two optical signals comprising a first optical signal corresponding to the first electrical signal and at least one other optical signal corresponding to the at least one other electrical signal, respectively;
each of said at least one other electrical signals subject to a different predetermined timing delay relative to the first electrical signal caused by the signal converter;
said signal converter comprising;
at least two optical ports, comprising a first optical port for the first optical signal and at least one other optical port for the at least one other optical signal, respectively; and
at least two electrical ports, comprising a first electrical port for the first electrical signal, and at least one other electrical port for the at least one other electrical signal, respectively; and
skew compensation elements consisting of a different waveguide optical delay line in optical communication with each of said at least one other optical ports, each optical delay line consisting of a single fixed length of waveguide configured to apply a single fixed predetermined compensation timing delay to said at least one other optical signals, respectively, to at least partially compensate for the different predetermined timing delays in the at least one other electrical signal.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A skew compensation apparatus and method. In an optical system that uses optical signals, skew may be generated as the optical signals are processed from an input optical signal to at least two electrical signals representative of the phase-differentiated optical signals. A compensation of the skew is provided by including an optical delay line in the path of the optical signal that does not suffer the skew (e.g., that serves as the time base for the skew measurement). The optical delay line introduces a delay Tskew equal to the delay suffered by the optical signal that is not taken as the time base. The two signals are thereby corrected for skew.
-
Citations
31 Claims
-
1. A skew compensated opto-electrical apparatus, comprising:
-
a signal converter mounted on a substrate configured to convert at least two optical signals into at least two electrical signals, said at least two electrical signals comprising a first electrical signal and at least one other electrical signal, said at least two optical signals comprising a first optical signal corresponding to the first electrical signal and at least one other optical signal corresponding to the at least one other electrical signal, respectively; each of said at least one other electrical signals subject to a different predetermined timing delay relative to the first electrical signal caused by the signal converter; said signal converter comprising; at least two optical ports, comprising a first optical port for the first optical signal and at least one other optical port for the at least one other optical signal, respectively; and at least two electrical ports, comprising a first electrical port for the first electrical signal, and at least one other electrical port for the at least one other electrical signal, respectively; and skew compensation elements consisting of a different waveguide optical delay line in optical communication with each of said at least one other optical ports, each optical delay line consisting of a single fixed length of waveguide configured to apply a single fixed predetermined compensation timing delay to said at least one other optical signals, respectively, to at least partially compensate for the different predetermined timing delays in the at least one other electrical signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method of compensating skew, comprising the steps of:
-
a) providing an apparatus, comprising; a substrate; a signal converter integrated on the substrate, configured to convert at least two optical signals into at least two electrical signals, said at least two electrical signals comprising a first electrical signal and at least one other electrical signal, said at least two optical signals comprising a first optical signal corresponding to the first electrical signal and at least one other optical signal corresponding to the at least one other electrical signal, respectively; each of said at least one other electrical signals subject to a different predetermined timing delay relative to the first electrical signal caused by the signal converter; and said signal converter comprising;
at least two optical ports, comprising a first optical port for the first optical signal and at least one other optical port for the at least one other optical signal, respectively;and at least two electrical ports comprising a first electrical port for the first electrical signal, and at least one other electrical port for the at least one other electrical signal, respectively; and b) determining each of the different predetermined timing delays; and c) integrating skew compensating elements consisting of a different waveguide optical delay line in optical communication with each of said at least one other optical port, each said optical delay line consisting of a single fixed length of waveguide configured, based on step b), to apply a single fixed predetermined compensation timing delay to said at least one other optical signals to at least partially compensate for the different predetermined timing delays in the at least one other electrical signal. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A signal converter device, comprising:
-
a substrate; an input port for inputting an input optical signal; a polarization beam splitter for splitting the input optical signal into first and second polarized components; a local oscillator for generating first and second oscillator components; a first hybrid mixer integrated on the substrate for generating first and second phase differentiate optical signals from the first polarized component and the first oscillator component, and for outputting the first and second phase differentiated optical signals to the first and second output ports, respectively; a second hybrid mixer integrated on the substrate for generating third and fourth phase differentiated optical signals from the second polarized component and the second oscillator component, and for outputting the third and fourth phase differentiated optical signals to the third and fourth output ports, respectively; photodiodes and electrical amplifiers integrated on the substrate for converting each of said first, second, third and fourth phase differentiated optical signals into first, second, third and fourth electrical signals, and thereby generating predetermined timing delays in the first, second and third electrical signals relative to the fourth electrical signal; first, second and third optical delay lines integrated on the substrate in optical communication with said first, second and third output ports, respectively, each optical delay line consisting of a single fixed length of waveguide configured to apply a single fixed predetermined pre-skew compensation timing delay to said first, second and third phase differentiated optical signals to compensate for the predetermined timing delays in the first, second and third electrical signals caused by the photodiodes and electrical amplifiers, whereby the first, second, third and fourth electrical signals have substantially zero relative skew to each other after conversion. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31)
-
Specification