Abstract:
In accordance with the invention, an optical fiber is provided with a metal coating of controlled variable thickness by the steps of disposing the fiber in position for receiving coating metal from a metal source, and depositing metal while moving a shadow mask between the fiber and the source to provide patterning of deposited metal. Advantageously, the mask is translated at a constant velocity perpendicular to the fiber. The method is particularly useful for the fabrication of adjustable Bragg gratings.
Abstract:
In an optical fiber communication system a pulse reshaper can transform a distorted input light pulse into a reshaped output light pulse. The disclosed pulse reshaper is an all-optical pulse reshaper that comprises an optical waveguide having an effective length, the waveguide connecting the input and the output and comprising optical non-linear material, with a periodic variation of an effective refractive index of the optical waveguide. The optically non-liner material and the periodic variation are selected such that the reshaped output light pulse is a substantially transform-limited output light pulse.
Abstract:
In accordance with the invention, an optical communication system is provided with one or more automatic dispersion compensation modules. Each module has an adjustable dispersion element, a data integrity monitor and a feedback network whereby the monitor adjusts the dispersion element to optimize system performance. In a preferred embodiment the dispersion compensating modules comprise chirped fiber Bragg gratings in which the chirp is induced in the grating by passing a current along distributed thin film heaters deposited along the length of the fiber. The magnitude of the applied current determines the dispersion of the grating. A data integrity monitor is configured to sense the integrity of transmitted data and to provide electrical feedback for controlling the current applied to the grating.
Abstract:
In accordance with the invention, a reconfigurable optical fiber grating comprises an optical fiber grating with a temperature sensitive material surrounding the cladding region or incorporated into the cladding region. One or more heating elements are arranged to produce a a temperature gradient along the length of the grating and thereby chirp the grating. In a preferred embodiment, a long period fiber grating is surrounded by a material in which dn / dT is 10 times as large as that of glass and in which n is close to but lower than that of the glass. A temperature gradient along the length of the grating results in a broadening of the resonance.
Abstract:
In accordance with the invention, an optical pulse compressor comprises a pulse source (10), a section of nonlinear optical waveguide (11) including a periodic structure such as Bragg grating (12), for providing positive dispersion and a section of linear optical waveguide (13) including a negative dispersion component (14). The nonlinear waveguide should have a second order index N 2 at least ten times the second order index N 2 ' of the linear waveguide. The nonlinear waveguide is preferably chalcogenide fiber, with a Bragg grating photoinduced into the core. Because the grating is 4-5 orders of magnitude more dispersive than standard optical fiber, the length of the nonlinear waveguide section can be scaled down to a few centimeters with accompanying reduction of deleterious processes. Modeling suggests that compression factors of 5 with an initial 60 ps pulse are achievable with grating lengths of about 20 cm.
Abstract:
A high speed optical communication system (≥ 10Gbit/s) is compensated for temperature variation by providing it with one or more automatic dispersion compensation modules (20). Each module (20) has an adjustable dispersion element (30), a data integrity monitor (31) and a feedback network (32) whereby the monitor (31) adjusts the dispersion element (30) to compensate for temperature variation. In a preferred embodiment the dispersion compensating modules comprise chirped fiber Bragg gratings in which the chirp is induced in the grating by passing a current along distributed thin film heaters deposited along the length of the fiber. The magnitude of the applied current determines the dispersion of the grating. A data integrity monitor is configured to sense the integrity of transmitted data and to provide electrical feedback for controlling the current applied to the grating.
Abstract:
In accordance with the invention, a thermally tunable optical waveguide device is stabilized against ambient changes. Specifically, a feedback signal derived from a temperature-dependent resistance is used to stabilize the device with respect to ambient changes that could otherwise alter the temperature. Specific embodiments include resistance-heated tunable gratings.