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:
Dec. 19, 2000
Filed:
May. 28, 1998
Applicant:
Inventor:
Tetsuji Ueda, Tokyo, JP;
Assignee:
NEC Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G02B / ; G02F / ; G01B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
385 16 ; 385-1 ; 356345 ;
Abstract
A optical switch comprising: a substrate; and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer circuit provided on the substrate, the Mach-Zehnder interferometer circuit comprising two directional couplers and two optical transmission lines for connecting the directional couplers to each other; elements having Peltier effect provided respectively on the two optical transmission lines; and energizing means for energizing the elements in such a manner that heat is generated from one of the elements with absorption of heat being created in the other element. By virtue of the above construction, the optical switch can realize low power consumption, low extinction ratio, and low crosstalk.