Optical Components

Ajmal Muhammad, Robert Forchheimer

Information Coding Group
ISY Department
 Outline
 Types of optical components
 Passive (reciprocal & non-reciprocal)
Lens, couplers, isolators, circulators, filters, multiplexer, demultiplexer
 Active
Modulator, switch, optical amplifier, wavelength converter, gain equalizer
 Wavelength Selectivity
 Fixed
 Tunable
 Parameters
Temperature dependency, insertion loss (inputoutput loss)
inter-channel cross-talks, fast tunability, stability and polarization
dependency
 Requirements
 Bandwidth
 Low insertion loss (inputoutput loss)
 High return loss (outputinput loss)
 Polarization insensitivity
 Low crosstalk
 High extinction ratio
 Temperature insensitivity
 Low control power
 Small size
 Cost
 Optical Component Platform
 Micro-optic components
The assembly of discrete elements are placed together in an optical
component. The elements require precise optical alignment to maximize the
performance.
 Integrated optics components
Uses planar manufacturing techniques to develop devices such as Array
Waveguide Grating (AWG), Variable Optical Attenuators (VOA), Electro-optic
Modulators, etc.
 Fiber based optical components
Devices made of fibers such as fused optical couplers, fused WDMs, Fiber-
Bragg gratings (FBG), etc.
 Hybrid type
 Passive Components

 Coupler: versatile device used as a building block for

several other optical devices
 Isolator: used in systems at the output of amplifiers and
lasers to prevent reflections
 Filter: to multiplex and demultiplex wavelengths in a
WDM system, and to provide equalization of the gain
and filtering of noise in optical amplifier
 MUX & DEMUX: MUX combines signals at different
wavelengths on its input ports onto a common output
port, DEMUX performs the opposite function
Couplers Couplers
 Structure
 NxN (e.g., 2x2)
 α is proportional to l (α is coupling ratio, l is coupling length)
 Parameters of interest
 Coupling ratio
 Coupling length
 Excess loss (beyond α)
 Type
 Wavelength dependent (α has wavelength-dependency)
 Wavelength independent (wavelength flat)
 Splitting ratio
 3dB (splitting the power evenly) - α=0.5
 Taps (e.g., α ∼ 1 – thus, a very small portion is dropped)
 Couplers - Passive Reciprocal Device
 They can combine or separate different wavelengths
 The lights (different wavelengths) are coupled together
 Example: 8x8 3-dB couplers

1310 (signal)
Amplified
Signal
1550 nm
(pump) Wavelength-dependent
coupler

Multiple signals combined and

broadcast to many outputs
 Couplers

1x2 coupler 6x6 coupler

 Isolators - Passive Non-Reciprocal Device

 Transmit in one direction only

 Avoid reflection of laser – or any reflection
 One input, one output or multiple ports
 Key parameters are insertion loss and excess loss
 Example: circulator
Operation of Isolators
Isolators
 Passive Components

 Coupler: versatile device used as a building block for

several other optical devices

 Isolator: used in systems at the output of amplifiers and

lasers to prevent reflections

 Filter: Variety of technologies are available

 Gratings

Describe a device involving interference among multiple

optical signals coming from the same source but having
difference phase shift

There are a number of gratings

 Reflective

 Transmission

 Diffraction

 Stimax (same as reflection but integrate with concave

mirrors)
 Gratings
Transmission gratings
 The incident light is transmitted through
the slits
 Due to diffraction (narrow slits) the light is
transmitted in all direction Transmission Reflective
gratings gratings
 Each slit becomes a secondary source of
light
 A constructive interference will be created
on the image plane only for specific WLs
that are in phase  high light intensity
 Narrow slits are placed next to each other
 The spacing determines the pitch of the
gratings
 Angles are due to phase shift Diffraction
gratings
 Fiber Bragg Gratings
Any periodic perturbation in the propagation medium serves as a
Bragg gratings

Diffractive optical
element
Optical Add/Drop Using Fiber
Bragg Grating
 Fabry-Perot Filters

A cavity with highly reflective mirrors parallel to each other

(Bragg structure)
 Acts like a resonator
 Also called FP Interferometer
 Used in lasers
 Tunability of Fabry-Perot
 Changing the cavity length (l)
 Varying the refractive index (n) within the cavity
 Mechanical placement of mirrors
Not very reliable
 Using piezoelectric material within the cavity
Thermal instability
 Multilayer Dielectric Thin Film
Filters
 Dielectric thin-film (DTF) interference filters consist of
alternating quarter-wavelength thick layers of high
refractive index and low refractive index
each layer is a quarter-wavelength thick.
 The primary considerations in DTF design are:
Low-pass-band loss (« 0.3 dB)
Good channel spacing (> 10 nm)
Low inter-channel cross-talk (> -28 dB)

DTF filters MUX/DEMUX using DTF filters

 Mach-Zehnder
Interferometer
 Uses two couplers
 The coupling ratio can be different
 A phase difference between two optical paths may be artificially induced
 Adjusting ΔL changes the phase of the received signal
 Because of the path difference, the two waves arrive at coupler 2
with a phase difference
 At coupler 2, the two waves recombine and are directed to two
output ports
 each output port supports the one of the two wavelengths that satisfies a certain
phase condition

 Note:
 Δf=C/2nΔL
 ΔΦ=2πf.ΔL.(n/c)
 Tunability
Can be achieved by altering n or L
Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG)
AWG is a generalization of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer
AWG as DEMUX and Cross-
Connect

Input coupler Arrayed guides Output coupler

Static Wavelength
Cross-connect
Multiplexer/Demultiplexer
Multiplexer/Demultiplexer
 Active Components

 Modulator, switch, and router

 Optical amplifier (fiber amplifier, semiconductor amplifier)
 Wavelength converter
 Gain equalizer

Optical switch can be used for:

1) Light modulation(phase & intensity)
2) Routing optical data
Type of Optical Modulators/Switches
Micro-Electro-Mechanical
(MEMS) Switch
 Electro-Optic Modulator
Need material with high electro-optic effect
Electro-optic: refractive index change is proportional to applied electric
field
Wavelength Converter
 Different types of Wavelength
Converter
 OE/EO regeneration
 SOA-based
OE/EO
Cross-gain modulation
Cross-phase modulation
Four-Wave mixing Cross-gain
 Fiber-based
Cross-phase modulation
Four-Wave mixing Cross-phase

Four-Wave mixing
Gain Equalizers
Gain/Power Equalizers
Gain/Power Equalizers