摘要 |
An optical multiplexer/demultiplexer for fiber optical communication is disclosed. The device includes a collimator (21), configured to collimate a beam of wavelength-division-multiplexed signal received from a fiber (20); a splitter (23) for dividing the beam into two parallel beams which are polarized 90 DEG from each other; a retarder, such as a half-wave plate, for rotating the polarization direction of one of the beam by 90 DEG so that both beams are polarized in the same direction; a beam steerer, such as a prism (25), for modifying the diameter in the direction parallel to the polarization direction and for modifying the propagation direction; a wavelength dispersing element, such as a diffraction grating (27), for separating each of beams into a plurality of beams, each having a different center wavelength and propagating along a different angular direction. The optical elements in the multiplexer/demultiplexer are arranged in such a way to direct the diffracted beams through the optical elements, in reverse order, resulting in a plurality of beams, which may be launched into optical fibers (33). The parameters of the optical elements may be chosen to be suitable for multimode dense WDM applications using single-mode transmission fiber.
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