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:
Oct. 21, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 23, 2001
Timothy D. Goodman, Windsor, CA (US);
Janeen Cooke, Clarksville, MD (US);
Clive Egerton, Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Abstract
A multiple channel optical multiplexing/demultiplexing system utilizes a beam splitter to divide a single multi-wavelength beam of optical energy into two multi-wavelength beams, or to combine a plurality of multi-wavelength beams into a single output beam. In the demultiplexing configuration, a pair of demultiplexers are configured to receive and separate the two multi-wavelength beams into a plurality of wavelength channels. The two multi-wavelength beams are thus demultiplexed in parallel, allowing greater efficiency by avoiding excess beam attenuation. The individual demultiplexers can be incorporated into a single unitary device or can be optically interconnected as separate parts. Alternatively, the demultiplexing system can use multiple beam splitters to divide a single input multi-wavelength beam into a plurality of multi-wavelength beams for parallel demultiplexing in a plurality of demultiplexers.