OPTICAL FILTER DEVICE

摘要

PURPOSE: To provide a monolithically integrated wide band optical filter capable of being tuned to many light frequencies at a high speed over a wide light frequency range. CONSTITUTION: This device is constituted of two serially connected filters 12 and 13 provided with different resolutions formed on a semiconductor wafer 10. Control circuits 26 and 40 supply electric energy to waveguides 18 and 34 provided with controllable transmissivity for connecting the constituting element of the filter stipulated on the wafer. Thus, the entire filter is tuned to the prescribed one of the plural pieces of the light frequencies. By impressing such electric energy, a frequency selection route capable of transmitting one of several hundred light frequencies selected over the entire band of a semiconductor medium is generated. The filter is constituted at low cost and is useful for a large capacity high-speed optical communication network.