Integrated optical-power adjustable WDM

• US 20050152642A1
• Filed: 12/23/2004
• Published: 07/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accelink Technologies Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Accelink Technologies Company Limited
• Inventors: Wu, Xiaoping, Sun, Liping, Hu, Qianggao, Liu, Shuihua, Xu, Yuanzhong
• Granted Patent: US 7,046,874 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 385/24
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/29367 Zigzag path within a transparent optical block, e.g. filter deposited on an etalon, glass plate, wedge acting as a stable spacer
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/2937 In line lens-filtering-lens devices, i.e. elements arranged along a line and mountable in a cylindrical package for compactness, e.g. 3- port device with GRIN lenses sandwiching a single filter operating at normal incidence in a tubular package
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/29385 Channel monitoring, e.g. by tapping channel monitoring in optical transmission systems H04B10/07
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/29395 configurable, e.g. tunable or reconfigurable switching G02B6/35
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4215 the intermediate optical elements being wavelength selective optical elements, e.g. variable wavelength optical modules or wavelength lockers G02B6/4246 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4246 Bidirectionally operating package structures

Abstract

An integrated optical-power adjustable WDM is provided, which has a plurality of channels, each channel having a first input port, a second output port and a third output port, the second output port of one channel being connected to the first output port of the next channel, the first port of each channel having a waveguide, the third port of each channel having a waveguide, each channel comprising a pair of collimating elements composed of a first collimating element and a second collimating element, a thin film filter and a tunable optical filter chip functioning as a variable optical attenuator, wherein the tunable optical filter chip is set between the thin film filter and the third output port for each channel, thereby the respective tunable optical filter chip is integrated into the corresponding internal optical path for each channel of WDM to achieve optical-power control for each channel of the WDM.

Claims

1. An integrated optical-power adjustable wavelength-division multiplexer (WDM), comprising:

a plurality of channels, each channel having a first port, a second port and a third port, the second port of one channel being connected to the first port of the next channel, the first port of each channel having a waveguide, the third port of each channel having a waveguide, each channel comprising a pair of collimating elements composed of a first collimating element and a second collimating element, a thin film filter and a tunable optical filter chip functioning as a variable optical attenuator,

wherein the tunable optical filter chip is set between the film filter and the third port for each channel, thereby the respective tunable optical filter chip is integrated into the corresponding internal optical path for each channel of the WDM to achieve optical-power control for each channel of the WDM.

2. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 1, wherein as a variable optical attenuator unit, the tunable optical filter chip is one of a tunable optical filter chip based on a Fabrey-Perot (F-P) cavity, a tunable optical filter chip based on liquid crystal technology and a tunable optical filter chip based on magneto-optic technology.

3. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 1, wherein the tunable optical filter chip is set between the film filter and the second collimating element for each channel.

4. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 1, wherein a PIN is located in front or after the tunable optical filter chip for each channel as an optical power detecting device.

5. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 1, wherein a coupler is located behind the second collimating element and a PIN is coupled with the coupler.

6. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 1, wherein the tunable optical filter chip is set between the second collimating element and a third collimating element, and a PIN is coupled with tunable optical filter chip.

7. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 1, wherein a second port of one channel and a first port of next channel communicate with each other through a waveguide or a free space optical path.

8. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 2, wherein the tunable optical filter chip is set between the film filter and the second collimating element for each channel.

9. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 2, wherein a PIN is located in front or after the tunable optical filter chip for each channel as an optical power detecting device.

10. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 2, wherein a coupler is located behind the second collimating element and a PIN is coupled with the coupler.

11. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 2, wherein the tunable optical filter chip is set between the second collimating element and a third collimating element, and a PIN is coupled with tunable optical filter chip.

12. The integrated optical-power adjustable WDM according to claim 2, wherein a second port of one channel and a first port of next channel communicate with each other through a waveguide or a free space optical path.