Polarization maintaining optical fiber polarizer

Abstract

A novel in-fiber polarizer is provided that is implemented in an optical fiber structure based on a polarization maintaining ('PM') optical fiber, and that is configured to impart a predetermined desired polarization to a light signal transmission of a predetermined at least one wavelength transmitted therethrough. The inventive polarizer comprises a PM optical fiber structure, with an entry end for receiving incident light and an exit end for outputting polarized light, having an optical fiber core, having at least one core mode and a core propagation constant, surrounded by a cladding, having at least one cladding mode and a cladding propagation constant, that further comprises a reduced core diameter region of a predetermined length between its entry and exit ends, wherein various predefined parameters of the modified PM optical fiber structure, including but not being limited to, the core and cladding propagation constants, the value of the reduced core diameter, and the length of the reduced core diameter region are selected and configured to produce a constructive interference for one light polarization of the input light signal, corresponding to the desired polarization, and to produce a destructive interference for a polarization orthogonal to the desired polarization, to thereby only output, at the polarizer exit end, the desired polarization component of the light signal transmission at the at least one wavelength. Additional embodiments of the inventive polarizer include multiple sequential polarizer structures with specially configured interconnects.