The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 20, 2020
Filed:
Sep. 06, 2018
Exalos Ag, Schlieren, CH;
Marcus Dülk, Schlieren, CH;
Philipp Vorreau, Schlieren, CH;
EXALOS AG, Schlieren, CH;
Abstract
A depolarizer for a broadband optical source to split the source beam by power, not by polarization state, and route the components into respective light paths. A polarization rotator arranged in one of the light paths rotates the polarization state of that beam component to make it orthogonal to that of the other. The components are then recombined by a combiner and output. A variable optical attenuator is arranged in one of the light paths, which during operation is adjusted by a controller to maintain power equalization between the light paths and hence depolarization performance. The controller receives power measurements from the light paths and from after the combiner via respective sensors. With this feedforward design reminiscent of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer the light from a light source which generates highly polarized light can be depolarized in theory with zero insertion loss and in practice with losses of about 1 dB.