Honeywell G.m.b.h.

Julian P Bristow

John A Lehman

Aloke Guha

The present invention is an optical transmission system comprising an optical source, a first lens and a second lens, a multimode optical waveguide, and a phase-only filter. The optical source generates an optical signal having a predetermined wavelength which is received by the first lens. The signal is then sent from the first lens through the phase-only filter and then to the second lens. The second lens then focuses the signal into the multimode optical waveguide. The multimode optical waveguide has predetermined dimensions and has multiple modes. The phase-only filter excites a plurality of modes in the optical waveguide to approximate equilibrium modal power distribution as the optical signal is received into the optical waveguide.

Fiber optic mode scrambler

An optical switch with a waveguide used as a detector is disclosed. The switch can be used for circuit or packet switching. The waveguide is used to tap off a fraction of the input signal going into the switch. The waveguide then sends the tapped off signal to a local electronic control to decide if switching is necessary or not. This is determined by within the local electronic control associated with the switch. The switch is set or reset based on information in the electrical representation of the signal which reaches the local electronic control. The switch can be used with continuous input signals as well as data packet input signals. By spacing the timing of data in the header differently than in the data in the 'data' portion of a signal, extremely high bandwidth available in pure optical communications can be maintained.

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Lakeville, MN, United States of America

Julian P Bristow