Apparatus and methods for stabilization and control of fiber devices and fiber devices including the same

• US 20020176088A1
• Filed: 05/21/2002
• Published: 11/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alan E. Johnson, Anders Grunnet-Jepsen, John N. Sweetser, Matthew Miller, Tsung-Ein Tsai
• Original Assignee: Alan E. Johnson, Anders Grunnet-Jepsen, John N. Sweetser, Matthew Miller, Tsung-Ein Tsai
• Inventors: Miller, Matthew, Grunnet-Jepsen, Anders, Johnson, Alan E., Tsai, Tsung-Ein, Sweetser, John N.
• Granted Patent: US 6,961,484 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 356/477
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/35316 using a Bragg gratings
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0218 using mounting means, e.g. by using a combination of materials having different thermal expansion coefficients
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/022 using mechanical stress, e.g. tuning by compression or elongation, special geometrical shapes such as "dog-bone" or taper G02B6/02204 takes precedence; optical modulation using photo-elastic effect G02F1/0131
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02204 using thermal effects, e.g. heating or cooling of a temperature sensitive mounting body optical modulation using thermo-optic effect G02F1/0147

Abstract

A mounting platform provides support and packaging for one or more fiber Bragg gratings and electronic circuitry (e.g., heaters, coolers, piezoelectric strain providers, temperature and strain sensors, feedback circuitry, control loops), which may be printed on or on the mounting platform, embedded in the mounting platform, or may be an “off-board” chip solution (e.g., the electronic circuitry may be attached to the mounting platform, but not formed on or defined on the mounting platform). The fiber Bragg gratings are held in close proximity to the electronic circuitry, which applies local and global temperature and/or strain variations to the fiber Bragg gratings to, for example, stabilize and/or tune spectral properties of the fiber Bragg gratings so that spatial variations in the fiber Bragg gratings that result from processing and manufacturing fluctuations and tolerances can be compensated for.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a substrate;

at least one in-fiber device disposed in or on the substrate;

at least one sensor operationally coupled to the in-fiber device;

at least one transducer operationally coupled to the in-fiber device; and

feedback circuitry operationally coupled to the sensor and the transducer.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the in-fiber device is a fiber Bragg grating.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a laminated mounting structure.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate includes groove, at least a portion of the in-fiber device being disposed in the groove.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a flip-chip platform.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein at least one of the sensor or transducer is embedded in the laminated mounting structure.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate is fabricated from at least one of a polymer, glass, crystal, insulator, or piezoelectric material.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the laminated mounting platform includes indicators to aid in aligning the in-fiber device and the electronic circuitry.

9. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein an active region of the in-fiber device is disposed in the groove and an inactive region of the in-fiber device is attached to the substrate using at least one of a two-part epoxy, an ultraviolet (UV) curable epoxy, or solder.

10. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein at least one of the sensor or transducer is in substantial alignment with the groove.

11. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the flip-chip platform comprises a first flip-chip substrate, a second flip-chip substrate, and an adhesive between the first and second flip-chip substrates to hold the first flip-chip and second flip-chip substrates together.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein at least one of the sensor or transducer is printed on the first flip-chip substrate.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein a second flip-chip substrate includes alignment marks to align at least one of the sensor, transducer, or in-fiber device with each other.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein disposing at least one in-fiber device in or on a substrate comprises disposing at least one fiber Bragg grating in or on a substrate.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein disposing at least one in-fiber device in or on a substrate comprises disposing at least one fiber Bragg grating in or on a laminated mounting structure.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein disposing at least one in-fiber device disposed in or on a substrate comprises disposing at least one in-fiber device in or on a flip-chip platform.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein disposing at least one in-fiber device disposed in or on a substrate comprises disposing at least one in-fiber device in or on a grooved substrate.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein operationally coupling at least one sensor to the fiber Bragg grating comprises operationally coupling at least one strain sensor or at least one temperature sensor to the fiber Bragg grating.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein operationally coupling at least one transducer to the fiber Bragg grating comprises operationally coupling at least one of a heating element, cooling element, or a piezoelectric transducer to the fiber Bragg grating.

14. A method of fabricating a photonic device, comprising:

disposing at least one in-fiber device in or on a substrate;

operationally coupling at least one sensor to the in-fiber device;

operationally coupling at least one transducer to the in-fiber device; and

operationally coupling feedback circuitry to the sensor and the transducer.

21. A system, comprising:

an input port and an output port disposed on a substrate;

a splitter/coupler disposed on the substrate and operationally coupled to the input port and output port;

a first leg of a fiber Bragg grating-based Michelson interferometer disposed on the substrate and coupled to the splitter/coupler, a first set of control elements operationally coupled to the first leg; and

a second leg of the fiber Bragg grating-based Michelson interferometer disposed on the substrate and coupled to the splitter/coupler, second set of control elements operationally coupled to the second leg.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the first or second sets of control elements comprises circuitry to control spectral characteristics of the first or second legs, respectively.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the first and second sets of control elements comprises circuitry to control optical delay between the first leg and the second leg.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the first or second sets of control elements comprises at least one of a sensor, transducer, or feedback circuitry.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the first or second sets of control elements comprises at least one of a sensor, transducer, or feedback circuitry.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the first or second sets of control elements comprises circuitry to control spectral characteristics of the first or second legs, respectively.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the first and second sets of control elements comprises circuitry to control optical delay between the first leg and the second leg.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the first or second sets of control elements comprises at least one of a sensor, transducer, or feedback circuitry.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the first or second sets of control elements comprises at least one of a sensor, transducer, or feedback circuitry.

26. A system, comprising:

an input port, an add port, a drop port, and an output port each disposed on a substrate;

a first splitter/coupler disposed on the substrate and operationally coupled to the input port and drop port;

a second splitter/coupler disposed on the substrate and operationally coupled to the add port and output port

a first leg and a second leg of a fiber Bragg grating-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer disposed on the substrate and coupled between the first and second splitter/couplers; and

a first set and a second set of control elements operationally coupled to the first and second legs, respectively.