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:
Jul. 07, 1998
Filed:
Jan. 16, 1996
Walter John Tomlinson, III, Holmdel, NJ (US);
Bell Communications Research, Inc., Morristown, NJ (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method for use in an optical system. An in-line optical wavelength reference and control module (WRCM) is inserted in series with an optical fiber signal path between an input fiber and an output fiber. The WRCM includes an input lens, a multi-element grating and an output lens. The input lens couples an input optical signal from the input fiber into the multi-element grating. The multi-element grating includes low-efficiency gratings which reflect portions of the input optical signal having different predetermined characteristics to different detectors of a detector array, while transmitting the remaining portions of the input optical signal to the output lens. The output lens couples the transmitted portions of the optical signal back onto the optical signal path. The WRCM may thus be placed directly in series with an optical signal path. The predetermined characteristics may be selected optical signal wavelengths, such that the WRCM can be used to monitor the optical signal path for the power level and/or drift of a given system wavelength. The multi-element grating may also include one or more highefficiency gratings suitable for delivering substantially all of the optical signal power of a given wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) channel signal to or from a selected node in an optical network system.