Highly tunable dispersion compensator

摘要

A method and device for providing tunable dispersion compensation by splitting an incoming optical beam and then recombining interferometrically two sub-beams which have been passed through fixed dispersive (dispersion producing) elements. The polarization of the incoming optical signal is controlled and the signal beam is split into sub-beams at a ratio dependent on the polarization. The sub-beams are directed to each of two interferometer arms. The return beams are interfered e.g. by placing a quarter waveplate at 45° to the two orthogonal polarization axes. This produces a near-lossless beam with a tunable amount of dispersion dependent on the ratio of beam split.