Optical coupler

摘要

An optical coupler is disclosed which utilizes a pair of polarization selective filters to multiplex a message signal (of perhaps random polarization) with a pair of polarized pump signals onto a common signal path. The filters may be disposed within optical elements (e.g., cubes) which may be physically joined together to form a bulk optic device. An optical isolator may then be directly attached to the output of the bulk polarization independent optical coupler. The positioning of the pump signal inputs with respect to the filters provides either a co-propagating scheme or counter-propagating scheme.