AN OPTICAL DEVICE FOR DISPERSION COMPENSATION

摘要

An optical device (2) having a number of waveguides (12), an input port (6) coupled to the waveguides (12) such that light incident on the input port (6) is split for propagation on the waveguides, and an output port (10) receiving light propagated on the waveguides (12) at a point on an output plane of incidence. The waveguides (12) induce respective delays in the propagated light to induce a wavelength dependent group delay. Delays between adjacent waveguides are chosen to be non-constant, to introduce quadratic, cubic or higher-order phase differences between different waveguides. Applications include dispersion compensation, pulse compression, and passband broadening in arrayed waveguide grating multiplexers and demultiplexers.