公开(公告)号：EP1153463A1

公开(公告)日：2001-11-14

申请号：EP00917645.4

申请日：2000-02-18

申请人： New Focus, Inc.

发明人： ZORABEDIAN, Paul ,  CHAPMAN, William, B. ,  GREEN, Evan, D., H. ,  JENQ, Michael, Y.

IPC分类号： H01S3/10

CPC分类号： H01S5/141 ,  H01S3/1055 ,  H01S3/1062 ,  H01S5/02248 ,  H01S5/02284 ,  H01S5/0617 ,  H01S5/4087

摘要： The present invention provides a continuously tunable external cavity laser ECL with a compact form factor and precise tuning to a selected center wavelength of a selected wavelength grid. The ECL may thus be utilized in telecom applications to generate the center wavelengths for any channel on the ITU or other optical grid. The ECL does not require a closed loop feedback. A novel tuning mechanism is disclosed which provides for electrical or mechanical tuning to a known position or electrical parameter, e.g., voltage, current, or capacitance, with the required precision in the selected center wavelength arising as a result of a novel arrangement of a grid generator (226) and a channel selector (262). The grid generator (226) exhibits first pass bands which correspond to the spacing between the individual channels of the selected wavelength grid and a fineness which suppresses side band modes of the laser. The channel selector (262) exhibits second pass bands that are wider than the first pass bands. In an embodiment of the invention the second pass bands have a periodicity substantially corresponding with the separation between the shortest wavelength channel and the longest wavelength channel of the selected wavelength grid and a finesse which suppresses channels adjacent to the selected channel. The broad second pass bands of the channel selector reduce the sensitivity of the ECL to tuning variations about the selected channel, thus avoiding the requirement of a closed loop feedback system to control the channel selector (262).

公开(公告)号：EP1214762A1

公开(公告)日：2002-06-19

申请号：EP00952301.0

申请日：2000-07-27

申请人： New Focus, Inc.

发明人： GREEN, Evan, D., H. ,  CHAPMAN, William, B.

IPC分类号： H01S3/10 ,  H01S3/30 ,  H04J14/08 ,  H04B10/08 ,  H04B10/16 ,  G01B9/02 ,  G02B5/28 ,  G02B6/12 ,  G02B26/00 ,  G02B27/28 ,  G02F1/01 ,  G02F1/1335 ,  G03B27/44 ,  G11B5/00

CPC分类号： H01S5/141 ,  G02B5/281 ,  G02B5/284 ,  G02B6/29358 ,  G02B6/29395 ,  G02B6/29398 ,  G02B6/4204 ,  G02B26/002 ,  G02B26/007 ,  H01S3/1062 ,  H01S5/02248 ,  H01S5/02284 ,  H01S5/0687 ,  H04J14/02

摘要： Wavelength-agile optical filters, suitable for wavelength-division-multiplexed optical communications networks, which provide for electrical or mechanical tuning to a known position or electrical parameter with precision in the selected center wavelength arising as result of the arrangements of a grid generator (246) and a channel selector (252). Within the embodiments of the invention, it may be used in a wide range of applications, such as, tuning an external cavity laser, selecting a wavelength for an add/drop multiplexer and providing channel selection and feedback for a wavelength locker, or be implemented in whole or in part of a gain medium (224). The invention may thus be utilized in telecom applications to generate the center wavelengths for any channel on the current International Telecommunications Union or other optical grids.