| 摘要 |
The present invention provides an optical device making use of a magneto-optical effect. The optical device comprises: a reflector for reflecting an input beam as a reflected beam; a magneto-optical crystal provided so as to pass the input and reflected beams; a first unit for applying a magnetic field to the magneto-optical crystal; and a second unit for varying the magnetic field in accordance with a control signal. The configuration described above allows a small magneto-optical crystal to be used and, thus, a small-size and a low-cost Faraday rotator to be provided. By adding a polarizer to such a Faraday rotator, a variable optical attenuator can be obtained. In particular, by employing a wedge plate as the polarizer, a polarized-independent optical attenuator can be provided.
|
