Adjustable high speed electro-optical attenuator

Abstract

The invention discloses an adjustable high speed electro-optical attenuator. A first optical fiber collimator, a first birefringent crystal, a first 45-degrees half-wave plate, an electro-optical angle deviation plate, a deviation prism, a second 45-degree half-wave plate, a second birefringent crystal and a second optical fiber collimator are arranged on the direction of an identical horizontal optical path in sequence; optical signals emitted by the first optical fiber collimator are collimated and coupled with the second optical fiber collimator; the capacity of optical power of the optical signals coupled into the second optical fiber collimator is changed through controlling the applied voltage of the electro-optical angle deviation plate, thereby the adjustable high speed electro-optical attenuator is achieved. Compared with the traditional art, the invention has the advantages of simple and compact structure, high speed, low cost, easy implementation and the like.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the field of optical communication, in particular to a high-speed adjustable electro-optic attenuator. Background technique [0002] A variable optical attenuator (VOA) is a device used to attenuate optical power. Because the optical receiver in the system has a certain power range, when the input optical power is too large, it must be attenuated by an optical attenuator. More importantly, it can accurately and actively balance the optical energy in the communication system, especially the wide application of DWDM and EDFA in optical communication, gain flattening or channel power equalization, etc., which make VOA an indispensable key device in optical communication systems . [0003] At present, VOA tunable optical attenuator technology can be roughly divided into: discrete micro-optical component technology, MEMS technology and optical waveguide technology. Discrete micro-optical technology can be divided into mechanical,...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, the traditional mechanical VOA or MEMS-based VOA technology, due to the limitation of its own structural design factors, the adjustment accuracy and response speed of VOA cannot well meet the requirements of the rapid development of optical communication.

Moreover, traditional mechanical VOAs and MEMS-based VOAs increase their costs due to the relatively complex manufacturing process

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