Large diameter optical waveguide having blazed grating therein

Optical waveguides – With optical coupler – Input/output coupler

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Reexamination Certificate

active

06810178

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to an optical component; and more particularly to an optical component having a Bragg grating written therein.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,382 discloses a 125 micron optical fiber having a Bragg grating written therein at an oblique angle, which are known in the art as blazed gratings. The subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,382 is hereby incorporated by reference herein. One disadvantage of this optical fiber design is that it is not readily adaptable to compression-based designs for tuning the Bragg grating, because the 125 micron optical fiber tends to buckle under a compressive force. Thus, it is advantageous and desirable to provide an optical component that is readily adaptable to compression-based designs for tuning the Bragg grating without bending.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In its broadest sense, the present invention provides a large diameter optical waveguide having a diameter of at least about 0.3 millimeters, and an outer cladding surrounding an inner core with a blazed grating therein. The blazed grating is written into the inner core at an oblique angle relative to a longitudinal axis of the inner core for attenuating optical light traveling in the optical waveguide, or for reflecting and coupling optical light to or from the optical waveguide and a light source or receiver.
The blazed grating has an optical parameter that changes in response to an application of a compressive force on the optical waveguide. The blazed grating may include a plurality of concatenated periodic or aperiodic gratings. The outer cladding may also have the blazed grating written therein, or a combination of the inner core and the cladding may have the blazed grating therein. The optical waveguide may be shaped like a dogbone structure having wider outer sections and a narrower central section inbetween. The blazed grating is written in the narrower central section of the dogbone structure. The narrower central section may have a tapered shape, including linear, quadratic or step-like tapering. The narrower intermediate section may also have a thermal device wrapped around, or otherwise positioned in heat exchange relationship with, the narrower central section of the optical waveguide to tune the center wavelength of the blazed grating along a spectral range.
The large diameter waveguide having the blazed grating therein and the compression-based tuning approach for tuning the same will open up a whole new host of optical coupling applications, optical attenuating applications, as well as parameter sensing applications and optical signal filtering applications not otherwise possible when using the prior art 125 micron tension-based tuned optical fiber.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3891302 (1975-06-01), Dabby et al.
patent: 3916182 (1975-10-01), Dabby et al.
patent: 4295739 (1981-10-01), Meltz et al.
patent: 4704151 (1987-11-01), Keck
patent: 4762392 (1988-08-01), Yamamoto et al.
patent: 4915467 (1990-04-01), Berkey
patent: 4948217 (1990-08-01), Keck et al.
patent: 5007705 (1991-04-01), Morey et al.
patent: 5042898 (1991-08-01), Morey et al.
patent: 5125946 (1992-06-01), Bhagavatula
patent: 5136677 (1992-08-01), Drexhage et al.
patent: 5235659 (1993-08-01), Atkins et al.
patent: 5237638 (1993-08-01), Narcisco, Jr.
patent: 5469520 (1995-11-01), Morey et al.
patent: 5479551 (1995-12-01), DiGiovanni et al.
patent: 5511083 (1996-04-01), D'Amato et al.
patent: 5519801 (1996-05-01), Le Noane et al.
patent: 5519803 (1996-05-01), Shiono
patent: 5546483 (1996-08-01), Inoue et al.
patent: 5666372 (1997-09-01), Ball et al.
patent: 5682453 (1997-10-01), Daniel et al.
patent: 5691999 (1997-11-01), Ball et al.
patent: 5699377 (1997-12-01), Pan
patent: 5745617 (1998-04-01), Starodubov et al.
patent: 5745626 (1998-04-01), Duck et al.
patent: 5771251 (1998-06-01), Kringlebotn et al.
patent: 5817944 (1998-10-01), Chung
patent: 5841131 (1998-11-01), Schroeder et al.
patent: 5933437 (1999-08-01), Delavaux
patent: 5999671 (1999-12-01), Jin et al.
patent: 6018534 (2000-01-01), Pan et al.
patent: 6104852 (2000-08-01), Kashyap
patent: 6229827 (2001-05-01), Fernald et al.
patent: 19724528 (1998-12-01), None
patent: 0320990 (1989-06-01), None
patent: 0352751 (1990-01-01), None
patent: 0212954 (1991-09-01), None
patent: 0162303 (1991-12-01), None
patent: 0359351 (1992-09-01), None
patent: 0572169 (1993-12-01), None
patent: 0302745 (1994-03-01), None
patent: 0409447 (1996-11-01), None
patent: 0884614 (1997-06-01), None
patent: 0962791 (1999-12-01), None
patent: WO8204328 (1982-12-01), None
patent: WO9530926 (1995-11-01), None
patent: WO0037969 (2000-06-01), None
V.C. Lauridsen, J.H. Povisen and P. Varming “Design of DFB Fibre Lasers”, Electron Lett., vol. 34, No. 21, pp. 2028-2030, 1998.
P. Varming, J. Hubner and M. Dejka, “Erbium doped fibre DFB laser with permanent &pgr;/2 phase-shift induced by UV post-processing”, IOOC'95, Tech. Digest vol. 5, PD1-3, 1995.
J.L. Cruz, L. Dong and L. Reekie “Improved thermal sensitivity of fibre Bragg gratings using a polymer overlayer”, Electronics Letters, vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 385-387.
Pan, J.J. et al, “166-MW Single Frequency Output Power Iteractive Fiber Lasers with Low Noise”, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE Inc., New York, vol. 11, No. 1, 01/1999.
Hamza, A.A., et al., “Measurement Refractive Indices of Homogenous Fibers with Regular or Irregular Transverse Sections” Journal of Applied Physics, American Institute of Physics, New York, vol. 68, No. 6, 9/1990.
Yu Lung Lo, Member SPIE, “Large Diameter Optical Waveguide, Grating and Laser” Optical Engineering, vol. 37, No. 8, Aug. 1998, pp. 2272-2276.
“Bragg Grating Fast Tunable Filter for Wavelength Division Multiplexing”, by Iocco et al, Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 17, No. 7, Jul. 1999.
“Interactive Fiber Laser with Low Noise and Controlled Output Power”, E-TEK Dynamics/Whitepapers, by Pan et al, 11/99.

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Large diameter optical waveguide having blazed grating therein does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Large diameter optical waveguide having blazed grating therein, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Large diameter optical waveguide having blazed grating therein will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3309386

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.