CHIRAL IN-FIBER POLARIZER APPARATUS AND METHOD

摘要

A chiral in-fiber polarizer (10) implemented in a chiral fiber structure (12) having a core (14) and a cladding (16) surrounding the core (14), is provided. The chiral polarizer includes an entry end (18) for receiving incident light (22) and an exit end (20) for outputting polarized light, as well as a pitch variation along its length between the entry and exit ends (18 and 20) in accordance with a predetermined desirable pitch profile, wherein in one embodiment of the inventive polarizer, the inverse value of the chiral structure's pitch at the exit end (20) is less than at the entry end (18), and preferably substantially equal to zero. In another embodiment of the inventive chiral polarizer (10) , the pitch profile is selected and configured such that the inverse value of the chiral structure's pitch at the entry end (18) of the chiral structure (12) is also zero. This arrangement enables significant reduction of insertion loss of the incident light (22) entering the entry end (18) of the inventive polarizer.