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:
May. 08, 2001
Filed:
Sep. 22, 1998
Paul Melman, Newton, MA (US);
Yingyin Zou, Burlington, MA (US);
Hua Jiang, Mansfield, MA (US);
Feiling Wang, Medford, MA (US);
Jing Zhao, Winchester, MA (US);
NZ Applied Technologies Corporation, Woburn, MA (US);
Abstract
The invention provides a fiber-optic 2×2 switch using a dual-fiber 50:50 input coupler and a dual-fiber 50:50 output coupler. One fiber from each coupler makes contact to an inner transparent electrode on a planar layer of electro-optic material and the other fibers make contact to an outer transparent electrode on the layer. The electro-optic layer has its other side coated with a transparent electrode which is placed in optical contact with one end of a GRIN lens. The fibers are arranged so that the inner fibers are at conjugate points and the outer fibers also at conjugate points of the lens. The other end of the lens is coated with a mirror. Applying a voltage between either the inner or outer electrode changes the optical path length for the light from and to the fibers traveling through the material under the selected electrode causing the light from the two input fibers to be switched between the two output fibers. 2×N switches can be constructed by concatenating 2×2 switches. The switch can also be used as a modulator. A convenient fiber alignment method is described.