Wavelength-tunable devices and systems comprising flexed optical gratings
First Claim
1. A wavelength-tunable grating device comprising:
- a support frame for supporting a body of material;
a body of material including an optical grating, the body attached to the support frame on opposite sides of the grating; and
a movable body for pushing of pulling laterally on the body or material to elastically flex the body and induce a tensile strain therein, thereby altering the resonant resonant wavelength of the grating.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In accordance with the invention, a tunable optical grating device comprises a grating, which is fixed at both ends to a support frame and is flexed so that a tensile strain induced in the grating reconfigures the resonant wavelength. Typical embodiments include mechanical or magnetic latching arrangements capable of inducing a latchable change in grating periodicity. In typical embodiments programmable and latchable magnets accurately produce a predetermined amount of fiber deflection and tensile strain, thereby producing a latchable wavelength shift with minimal power. The device is especially useful in WDM communication systems for adding or dropping channels, for dynamically gain-equalizing optical amplifiers, for tuning lasers, and for dispersion compensation.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A wavelength-tunable grating device comprising:
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a support frame for supporting a body of material; a body of material including an optical grating, the body attached to the support frame on opposite sides of the grating; and a movable body for pushing of pulling laterally on the body or material to elastically flex the body and induce a tensile strain therein, thereby altering the resonant resonant wavelength of the grating. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification