Temperature-compensated planar waveguide optical apparatus
First Claim
1. An optical apparatus, comprising a planar optical waveguide having at least one set of diffractive elements, the planar optical waveguide substantially confining in at least one transverse spatial dimension an optical signal propagating therein, wherein:
- each diffractive element set routes, between a corresponding input optical port and a corresponding output optical port, a corresponding diffracted portion of the optical signal propagating in the planar waveguide that is diffracted by the diffractive element set;
the optical signal is successively incident on the diffractive elements of the set; and
the planar waveguide comprises at least one material having thermo-optic properties chosen so as to yield a designed temperature dependence of at least one of spectral characteristics and temporal characteristics of the diffracted portion of the optical signal.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An optical apparatus (spectral filter, temporal encoder, or other) comprises a planar optical waveguide having at least one set of diffractive elements. Each diffractive element set routes by diffraction therefrom a portion of the optical signal propagating in the planar waveguide. The planar waveguide includes at least one material having thermo-optic properties chosen so as to yield a designed temperature dependence of spectral and/or temporal characteristics of the diffracted portion of the optical signal. Variations of material refractive indices, physical dimensions, and/or optical mode distributions with temperature may at least partly compensate one another to yield the designed temperature dependence. Optical materials with ∂n/∂T of various magnitudes and signs may be variously incorporated into the waveguide core and/or cladding. The designed temperature dependence may be: i) substantial temperature independence; ii) a temperature derivative of zero at a selected temperature; or iii) a designed variation with respect to temperature.
108 Citations
51 Claims
-
1. An optical apparatus, comprising a planar optical waveguide having at least one set of diffractive elements, the planar optical waveguide substantially confining in at least one transverse spatial dimension an optical signal propagating therein,
wherein: -
each diffractive element set routes, between a corresponding input optical port and a corresponding output optical port, a corresponding diffracted portion of the optical signal propagating in the planar waveguide that is diffracted by the diffractive element set;
the optical signal is successively incident on the diffractive elements of the set; and
the planar waveguide comprises at least one material having thermo-optic properties chosen so as to yield a designed temperature dependence of at least one of spectral characteristics and temporal characteristics of the diffracted portion of the optical signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. An optical apparatus, comprising a planar optical waveguide having at least one set of diffractive elements, the planar optical waveguide substantially confining in at least one transverse spatial dimension an optical signal propagating therein,
wherein: -
each diffractive element set routes, between a corresponding input optical port and a corresponding output optical port, a corresponding diffracted portion of the optical signal propagating in the planar waveguide that is diffracted by the diffractive element set;
the optical signal is successively incident on the diffractive elements of the set; and
the planar waveguide further comprises means for yielding a designed temperature dependence of at least one of spectral characteristics and temporal characteristics of the diffracted portion of the optical signal. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
-
Specification