Optical waveguides – With optical coupler – Input/output coupler
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-23
2001-01-30
Spyrou, Cassandra (Department: 2872)
Optical waveguides
With optical coupler
Input/output coupler
C385S034000, C385S035000, C385S037000, C385S024000, C359S199200, C359S199200, C359S199200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06181850
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical device for use in an optical amplifier for optical communication and so on.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The applicant for patent on this invention proposed an optical device available to an optical fiber amplifier or the like (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-304855(A)).
The proposed optical device is provided with a prestage module and a poststage module which constitute the optical amplifier. The prestage module is assembled into a unit by incorporating collimators disposed on the incident side and the outgoing side of a signal beam, an unpolarizing beam splitter located between the collimators, a photodiode which receives a part of the signal beam from the incident-side collimator through the beam splitter, and a polarization-independent type optical isolator arranged between the beam splitter and the outgoing-side collimator. The outgoing-side collimator is connected to a rare-earth ion doped optical fiber.
The poststage module includes upper and lower collimators serving as incident-side optical terminals, and a collimator serving as an outgoing-side optical terminal. In the vicinity of the outgoing side of the upper incident-side collimator, a long-wave pass filter is disposed. A polarization-independent type optical isolator is disposed between the long-wave pass filter and the outgoing-side collimator in the poststage module, and a beam splitter is disposed between the optical isolator and the outgoing-side collimator.
To materialize miniaturization and elevation of the performance of the optical amplifier which is in increasing demand in recent years, there has been a need for various optical passive devices integrated effectively.
However, the conventional optical passive device, which generally incorporates lots of collimators and other component parts, has its limits in being diminished in size, and should be improved in structure to reduce its packaging area.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an optical device comprising a small number of component parts, which can be diminished in size and reduced in packaging area.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To attain the object described above according to this invention, there is provided an optical device comprising an incident-side optical waveguide portion, an outgoing-side optical waveguide portion, a reflecting member arranged between the optical waveguide portions so as to send back an incident beam from the incident side and permit a part of the incident beam to pass therethrough, a first lens disposed between the reflecting member and the incident-side optical waveguide portion, and a second lens disposed between the reflecting member and the outgoing-side optical waveguide portion. The incident-side optical waveguide portion includes one or more optical waveguides, and the outgoing-side optical waveguide portion includes one optical waveguide.
As the reflecting member, a wavelength division multiplexer, an optic branching device or the like may be used. When the optical waveguide has a plurality of terminal ports, the ports may be integrated with a fiber array in order to heighten the effect of diminishing the size of the device and reducing the packaging area of the device.
The optical device of this invention may incorporate a polarizationindependent type optical isolator as one optical component part. The optical isolator is placed between the reflecting member and the outgoing-side optical waveguide portion.
The optical device having the aforementioned optical isolator may further incorporate a plurality of reflecting members and three or more lenses. The reflecting members in this optical device may include at least first and second reflecting members. The optical device including first, second and third reflecting members has the following arrangement.
The first and second reflecting members are placed between the incident-side optical waveguide portion and the outgoing-side optical waveguide portion, and the optical isolator is placed between the first and second reflecting members. The first lens is placed between the incident-side optical waveguide portion and the first reflecting member. The second lens is placed between the first reflecting member and the optical isolator. The third lens is placed between the second reflecting member and the outgoing-side optical waveguide portion.
The optical device of the invention may comprise incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion including an incident-side optical waveguide and an outgoing-side optical waveguide, which are disposed on the same side of the device, a lens and a reflecting member. The lens is placed between the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion and the reflecting member. The reflecting member permits the incident beam from the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion to return to the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion.
The optical device of the invention may comprise incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion, a lens, a reflecting member, and an optical semiconductor. The incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion includes an incident-side optical waveguide and an outgoing-side optical waveguide, which are disposed on the same side of the optical device. The lens is placed between the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion and the reflecting member. The reflecting member permits the incident beam from the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion to return to the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion. The optical semiconductor is opposed to the lens astride the reflecting member.
The optical device of the invention may comprise incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion, first and second lenses, a reflecting member, and an optical semiconductor. The incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion includes an incident-side optical waveguide and an outgoing-side optical optical waveguide, which are disposed on the same side of the optical device. The first lens is placed between the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion and the reflecting member. The second lens is opposed to the first lens astride the reflecting member. The optical semiconductor is opposed to the reflecting member astride the second lens. The reflecting member permits the incident beam from the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion to return to the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion.
The optical device of the invention may comprise incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion, a lens, a reflecting member, a functional member, and an optical semiconductor. The incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion includes an incident-side optical waveguide and an outgoing-side optical waveguide, which are disposed on the same side of the optical device. The lens is placed between the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion and the reflecting member. The functional member is placed between the lens and the reflecting member. The optical semiconductor is opposed to the functional member astride the reflecting member. The reflecting member permits the incident beam from the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion to return to the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion.
In the optical device having the incident/outgoing-side optical waveguide portion in which the incident-side optical waveguide and outgoing-side optical waveguide are disposed on the same side of the device, the reflecting member having a function of selectively reflecting all the beam passing through the lens or the reflecting member capable of allowing the beam to partially pass therethrough may be selectively used according to the purposes for which the optical device is used. The optical semiconductor may include a photo detecting element which receives the beam passing through the reflecting member, and a light emitting element. When using these optical elements, there may be used an incident optical fiber as the incident-side
Kawasaki Yasuko
Nakamura Noriyuki
Ochi Yuzo
Sugaya Satoshi
Boutsikaris Leo
Kabushiki Kaisha Shinkosha
Kanesaka & Takeuchi
Spyrou Cassandra
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