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. 21, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 22, 2000
Giovanni Barbarossa, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Jialing Yang, Fremont, CA (US);
Avanex Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides an improved tunable chromatic dispersion compensator. The compensator includes: a virtually imaged phased array (VIPA); at least one reflector optically coupled to the VIPA; a mirror optically coupled to the at least one reflector; and a movable reflector holder coupled to the at least one reflector, where the movable reflector holder moves the at least one reflector such that a length of a beam path between the VIPA and the at least one reflector and the mirror is variable. The present invention uses the VIPA to produce a controlled variable degree of chromatic dispersion within a plurality of optical channels so as to compensate for unwanted chromatic dispersion in an optical communications system. Positional adjustment of the movable reflector holder permits variable control of the beam path length between the VIPA and the focusing lens. This variable change in beam path length permits variable control of the magnitude and sign of chromatic dispersion provide by the compensator.