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:
Sep. 10, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 18, 2000
R. Brad Bettman, Mountain View, CA (US);
Ping Xie, San Jose, CA (US);
Peter Zupei Chen, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Finisar Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for compensating an optical filter is disclosed. The device substantially maintains the selected center wavelength in the optical filter across a range of operating temperatures. In an embodiment of the invention an optical filter is disclosed for filtering a selected channel among a plurality of multiplexed channels of an optical communication. The optical filter includes an optical fiber and an elongate housing. The optical fiber has a first side and a second side and a filter portion intermediate the first side and the second side, and the optical fiber for transmitting the multiplexed optical communication and the filter portion for filtering the selected channel. The elongate housing includes exposed end portions through which the optical fiber extends. The optical fiber is affixed at each exposed end portion. The exposed end portions exhibit between them a negative coefficient of thermal expansion sufficient to generate strains on the filter to substantially stabilize a filtered wavelength to substantially correspond with the selected channel during temperature variations. In an alternate embodiment of the invention the elongate housing is defined about a longitudinal axis and including a first anchor pad and a second anchor pad to which the filter portion is affixed. At least one of the anchor pads is at least initially movable in a plane intersecting the longitudinal axis to vary a strain on the filter portion to tune a center wavelength of the selected channel. In another embodiment of the invention an optical filter for filtering an optical signal is disclosed. In still another embodiment of the invention a method for compensating an optical filter is disclosed.