Agiltron Corporation

Other

Yongjun Shu

Jing Zhao

Guanghai Jin

An optical apparatus and methods for operating on a polarization state of a light beam using a compound tri-state non-reciprocal rotator having two Faraday rotators. A first Faraday rotator rotates the polarization state into one of two partially rotated states at angles +&#x3b1;, &#x2212;&#x3b1;, where &#x3b1;=22.5&#xb0;, and the second Faraday rotates the polarization state from one of the partially rotated states into one of three fully rotated states at angles +2&#x3b1;, 0, &#x2212;2&#x3b1;. A polarization selection mechanism guides light in the three fully rotated states differently to enable various devices and different modes of operation. For example, the polarization selection mechanism can generate a tri-state output in the form of two distinct output beams corresponding to two of the three fully rotated states, and an overlapping pair of output beams obtained when the compound tri-state non-reciprocal rotator produces the third of the three fully rotated states. The various methods permitted by the invention permit simple and cost-effective multicasting switches and methods.

Optical apparatus having a compound tri-state non-reciprocal rotator

Optical switches which take multiple incoming optical signals and switch them to multiple output ports to realize multiple working states. For example, in a four by four switch embodiment, twenty-four working states can be selected. These switches rely on magneto-optically or electro-optically switching the beam polarizations from one state to another to rapidly change the light path. An optical signal is spatially split into two polarized beams by a birefringent element. These beams pass through a series of polarization rotation elements and recombine into output fibers, achieving polarization independent operation. A polarization beam splitter may be used as the key element to establish multi-port switching. Light bending devices that allow two fibers to be coupled to the light beams using a single lens may be used to achieve small fiber separation for compactness.

Multi-port optical switches

The present invention provides improved optical switches in which only a spatial beam shifting of a small free space offset is required to direct optical pathways between plural fiber ports. This is achieved by spacing two fibers closely and collimating their beams with one imaging lens for compactness. Advantageously, the inventive switches incorporate beam correcting devices to render the beam propagations parallel, allowing light beams to be efficiently coupled into two fibers that share a single lens with substantially improved stability.

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Woburn, MA, United States of America

Yongjun Shu