Apparatus and method for controlling polarization of an optical signal
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. An optical processing system, comprising:
- a light pipe operable to communicate at least a portion of an optical signal for processing, the optical signal comprising a plurality of wavelengths;
a first beam splitter operable to divide the optical signal into at least a first part and a second part, the first part of the optical signal having an input state of polarization;
an optical signal separator operable to receive at least the first part of the optical signal and to communicate at least a portion of the first part to a polarization adjustment device for processing, the polarization adjustment device comprising;
a first polarization beam splitter operable to receive the at least a portion of the first part of the optical signal and to separate the at least a portion of the first part of the optical signal into a first and a second principal mode of polarization; and
at least three stages of phase shifters each operable to introduce a phase shift between the first and second principal modes, at least one phase shifter comprising a second beam splitter that is shared with at least one other of the phase shifters, the at least three stages of phase shifters comprising a first stage coupled to the first polarization beam splitter and a second stage coupled to a second polarization beam splitter, wherein the second beam splitter that is shared comprises a partially transmitting mirror;
a combiner operable to combine one or more phase shifted portions of the first part of the optical signal into a phase shifted output signal; and
an optical reflector operable to receive at least some of the phase shifted optical signal and to communicate the phase shifted optical signal to an output.
4 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In one aspect of the invention, a polarization controller includes a first polarization beam splitter operable to receive an input optical signal having an input state of polarization and to separate the signal into a first and a second principal mode of polarization. The polarization controller further includes at least three stages of phase shifters each operable to introduce a phase shift between the first and second principal modes, at least one phase shifter comprising a beam splitter that is shared with at least one other of the phase shifters. The at least three stages of phase shifters include a first stage coupled to the first polarization beam splitter and a last stage coupled to a second polarization beam splitter. The second polarization beam splitter is operable to receive phase shifted copies of the first and second principal modes, and to align the phase shifted copies of the principal modes to an output state of polarization.
-
Citations
48 Claims
-
1. An optical processing system, comprising:
-
a light pipe operable to communicate at least a portion of an optical signal for processing, the optical signal comprising a plurality of wavelengths;
a first beam splitter operable to divide the optical signal into at least a first part and a second part, the first part of the optical signal having an input state of polarization;
an optical signal separator operable to receive at least the first part of the optical signal and to communicate at least a portion of the first part to a polarization adjustment device for processing, the polarization adjustment device comprising;
a first polarization beam splitter operable to receive the at least a portion of the first part of the optical signal and to separate the at least a portion of the first part of the optical signal into a first and a second principal mode of polarization; and
at least three stages of phase shifters each operable to introduce a phase shift between the first and second principal modes, at least one phase shifter comprising a second beam splitter that is shared with at least one other of the phase shifters, the at least three stages of phase shifters comprising a first stage coupled to the first polarization beam splitter and a second stage coupled to a second polarization beam splitter, wherein the second beam splitter that is shared comprises a partially transmitting mirror;
a combiner operable to combine one or more phase shifted portions of the first part of the optical signal into a phase shifted output signal; and
an optical reflector operable to receive at least some of the phase shifted optical signal and to communicate the phase shifted optical signal to an output. - 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. A method of processing multiple wavelengths of light, the method comprising:
-
communicating at least a portion of an optical signal for processing, the optical signal comprising a plurality of wavelengths;
dividing the optical signal into at least a first part and a second part, the first part of the optical signal having an input state of polarization;
separating the first part of the optical signal into at least a first portion of optical signal wavelengths and a second portion optical signal wavelengths;
receiving at least the first portion of optical signal wavelengths at a polarization adjustment device;
using the polarization adjustment device, controlling a state of polarization of at least the first portion the optical signal wavelengths, wherein controlling the state of polarization of the first portion of the optical signal wavelengths comprises;
separating the first portion the optical signal wavelengths into a first principal mode of polarization and a second principal mode of polarization; and
introducing at least three stages of phase shift between the first and second modes of polarization to align the first and second modes of polarization, wherein at least one phase shift stage shares a beam splitter with at least one other phase shift stage and wherein the beam splitter that is shared comprises a partially transmitting mirror;
combining one or more phase shifted portions of the first portion the optical signal wavelengths into a phase shifted output signal; and
communicating the phase shifted optical signal to an output. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
-
37. An optical processing system, comprising:
-
a light pipe operable to communicate at least a portion of an optical signal for processing, the optical signal comprising a plurality of wavelengths;
a first beam splitter operable to divide the optical signal into at least a first part and a second part, the first part of the optical signal having an input state of polarization;
an optical signal separator operable to receive at least the first part of the optical signal and to communicate at least a portion of the first part to a polarization adjustment device for processing, the polarization adjustment device comprising;
at least two stages of phase shifters each operable to receive a first and a second principal mode of polarization of the first part of the optical signal, and to introduce a phase shift between the first and second principal modes, at least one phase shifter comprising a beam splitter that is shared with at least one other of the phase shifters, wherein the beam splitter that is shared comprises a partially transmitting mirror and wherein each of the phase shift stages is operable to introduce a phase shift between the first and second principal modes in less than one milli-second;
a combiner operable to combine one or more phase shifted portions of the first part of the optical signal into a phase shifted output signal; and
an optical reflector operable to receive at least some of the phase shifted optical signal and to communicate the phase shifted optical signal to an output. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
-
-
48. A method of processing multiple wavelengths of light, the method comprising:
-
communicating at least a portion of an optical signal for processing, the optical signal comprising a plurality of wavelengths;
dividing the optical signal into at least a first part and a second part, the first part of the optical signal having an input state of polarization;
separating the first part of the optical signal into at least a first portion of optical signal wavelengths and a second portion optical signal wavelengths;
receiving at least the first portion of optical signal wavelengths at a polarization adjustment device;
using the polarization adjustment device, controlling a state of polarization of at least the first portion the optical signal wavelengths, wherein controlling the state of polarization of the first portion of the optical signal wavelengths comprises;
separating the first portion the optical signal wavelengths into a first principal mode of polarization and a second principal mode of polarization; and
introducing at least two stages of phase shift between the first and second modes of polarization to align the first and second modes of polarization, wherein at least one phase shift stage shares a beam splitter with at least one other phase shift stage, wherein the beam splitter that is shared comprises a partially transmitting mirror, and wherein each of the phase shift stages are operable to introduce a phase shift between the first and second principal modes in less than one milli-second;
combining one or more phase shifted portions of the first portion the optical signal wavelengths into a phase shifted output signal; and
communicating the phase shifted optical signal to an output.
-
Specification