Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Ntt Electronics Corporation

Naoki Ooba

Kenya Suzuki

Motohaya Ishii

Kazunori Seno

Shinji Mino

Tetsuo Takahashi

Hiroshi Tomita

Toshio Watanabe

Takashi Kurihara

Yuzo Ishii

Yuichi Higuchi

Toru Miura

Atsushi Aratake

Ken Tsuzuki

Yasuyuki Inoue

Seiji Toyoda

Toshiaki Tamamura

Osamu Moriwaki

Saburo Imamura

Kei Kuwabara

Mitsumasa Nakajima

Shoichi Hayashida

Hiroshi Terui

Yuichiro Ikuma

Yoshiyuki Doi

Yuko Kawajiri

Mitsunori Fukutoku

Koichi Hadama

Fumihiro Ebisawa

Tetsuyoshi Ishii

Tomoyo Shibazaki

Atsushi Murasawa

Yuichi Kikuchi

Takao Fukumitsu

Takeshi Kawai

An optical signal processing device with a transponder aggregator function by which theoretical loss is not increased even if the number of necessary transponders is increased. Optical signals inputted from input ports are inputted to a PLC. The PLC has SBTs. The input ports are connected to the input-end SBT, and a plane wave is outputted from an output end of the PLC to the space side at an angle different for each input port. Optical signals outputted by the PLC are changed in their optical paths on the x-z plane by a cylindrical lens (Lsp) designed to refract optical signals in the x-axis direction, and are reflected by an LCOS at different regions corresponding to the positions of the input port. The reflected optical signals are incident on the output-end SBTs on the PLC, and are outputted to output ports via demultiplex parts.

Optical signal processing device

To provide an optical signal processing device that can collect light from an input waveguide to form a beam array having a small diameter. The optical signal processing device includes input waveguidesto, an array waveguideand a slab waveguidethat is connected to a first archaving the single point C as a center and input waveguidestoand that is connected to a second archaving the single point C as a center and an array waveguide

Optical signal processing device with an array waveguide coupled to a slab waveguide with two arcs

Disclosed is an optical circuit including a transparent plate, which is light-transmittable, and a light shielding plate, which is adhered to the transparent plate with an adhesive and has an opening through which incident light passes, and in which the aspect facing to the opening has, on the side opposite to the transparent plate, projections in an overhang shape toward the center of the opening.

Optical circuit

The discloser provides a multi-input and multi-output optical switch capable of switching over all WDM wavelengths. An optical switch according to one embodiment includes: an optical demultiplexing element () that demultiplexes an optical signal from at least one input port into individual wavelengths; a first optical deflection element (), which deflects an incident optical signal, that deflects the wavelength-separated optical signal incoming from the optical demultiplexing element to change a traveling direction for each wavelength to a switch axis direction perpendicular to a wavelength dispersion axis direction; a second optical deflection element () that deflects the optical signal incoming from the first optical deflection element to change the traveling direction to the switch axis direction for output to at least one of the output ports; and an optical multiplexing element () that multiplexes the optical signal with the different wavelengths incoming from the second optical deflection element.

Optical switch

Provided is an optical module capable of inhibiting both the displacement of an optical axis caused by thermal changes and property degradation in an optical functional circuit. The optical module includes: a planar lightwave circuit including a waveguide-type optical functional circuit and a waveguide region where only an optical waveguide is formed in contact with a side, wherein an emission end face where output light is emitted from the optical functional circuit, or an entrance end face where input light is entered to the optical functional circuit is formed in contact with the side; a fixing mount employed to hold the planar lightwave circuit only in the portion where the waveguide area is located; and an auxiliary mount employed to hold the planar lightwave circuit in contact with a side that is opposite the side where the emission end face or the entrance end face.

Optical module

In an optical component, a part of a waveguide type optical device is fixed to a convex portion of a mount. The optical component includes an optical device support base, a pressure member and a pressure support base. The optical device support base is interposed between the mount and the presser member enough to be slidable in a direction parallel to surfaces of the mount and the presser member.

Optical component

Conventionally, there has been a problem that a structure in which optical signals outputting from a substrate facet in a PLC are optically coupled to a different bulk type optical device is so complicated that its assembly is laborious. There also has been a problem that a structure in which an output facet of a PLC is polished with an angle results in an increase in coupling loss in free space optics. With a lens bonded to an angled facet of a PLC, an optical circuit of the present invention achieves an optical coupling, with low loss, to a bulk-type optical device or another PLC with a simple structure. Moreover, a lens part and an optical fiber part are respectively bonded to different core apertures exposed on a single angled facet. Thereby, optical signals can be inputted to and outputted from the PLC through the single facet.

Optical circuit and optical signal processing apparatus using the same

A conventional optical signal processing device had a disadvantage where the temperature dependency of the spectroscopic characteristics of a spectroscopic element causes a deteriorated performance. In order to solve the temperature dependency, there has been a method to form a plurality of grooves for dividing a core on the array waveguide of the AWG. However, this method cannot avoid an excess loss and causes a high manufacture cost. By directly controlling the modulation characteristic profile formed by an element device of a spatial light modulator, athermalization can be achieved in a simpler and low-cost manner. This consequently provides a remarkable reduction of the light coupling loss in the spatial optical system of the optical signal processing device. More accurate temperature compensation can be realized that copes with an actual behavior of the device to a temperature fluctuation, including causing factors of a complicated temperature fluctuation of the optical system.

Conventional dispersion compensators were not sufficient to satisfy a demand to set a different dispersion value for each WDM wavelength in a ring-mesh type network that utilizes wavelength selective switches or the like. The devices were insufficiently reduced in size and power consumption and used with difficulty to change dispersion characteristics for each wavelength flexibly in a simple manner. A dispersion compensator of the present invention uses general-purpose optical components including a spatial light modulator for providing discrete phases to set appropriately the relationship between the focusing beam radius and the spatial light modulator pixel, thereby providing various dispersion compensation characteristics. Attention is focused on the correspondence between multiple pixels on the spatial light modulator providing discrete phases and a communication channel band, thereby allowing for changing the flexible dispersion characteristics and realizing the setting of an independent dispersion value for each WDM wavelength.

Dispersion compensator

In a conventional optical signal processing device, a confocal optical system is configured in which a focusing lens is positioned at a substantially-intermediate point of a free space optical path. Thus, the free space optical system had a long length. It has been difficult to reduce the size of the entire device. The optical signal processing device of the present invention uses a lens layout configuration different from the confocal optical system to thereby significantly reduce the length of the system. The optical signal processing device consists of the first focusing lens positioned in the close vicinity of a signal processing device, and the second focusing lens positioned in the vicinity of a dispersing element. A distance between the dispersing element and the signal processing device is approximately a focal length of the first focusing lens. Compared with the conventional technique, the length of the optical path can be halved.

Cores of an optical waveguide forming a Y-branch structured thermo-optic switch are stacked in a direction perpendicular to a substrate, and a heater is disposed on a clad right above an area where the cores overlap, thereby utilizing a large temperature gradient by the heater in the direction perpendicular to the substrate. The resulting stacked thermo-optic switch is low in power consumption and signal loss and high in extinction ratio.

Stacked thermo-optic switch, switch matrix and add-drop multiplexer

In a digital thermo-optic switch and an optical ADM filter of the present invention, functional components such as a splitter and a grating structure part formed in the course of an optical circuit as a component are composed of silicone materials which are superior in heat resistance, reduced loss, and low birefringence, thereby achieving sufficiently practical thermal stability, low loss at 1.55 to 1.58 .mu.m band, wavelength selectivity, and cost reduction.

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Atsugi, Japan

Naoki Ooba