Highly overcoupled fused taper couplers as optical switches

Theodore F. Morse; Meng Pang Chen; Lawrence J. Reinhart; David A. Brown

doi:10.1117/12.177338

3 June 1994 Highly overcoupled fused taper couplers as optical switches

Theodore F. Morse, Meng Pang Chen, Lawrence J. Reinhart, David A. Brown

Proceedings Volume 2216, Photonics at the Air Force Photonics Center; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.177338
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Engineering and Photonics in Aerospace Sensing, 1994, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

In the fabrication of an overcoupled 2 X 2 fused taper coupler, the light cycles back and forth between the output fibers as a function of the optical path length of the coupling region between the waveguides. This cycling (beat frequency) becomes extremely rapid for highly overcoupled couplers as the number of cycles per unit length of pull increases exponentially. We have fabricated couplers with several thousand cycles that are extremely sensitive to small changes in the interaction length or the refractive index. We propose the use of these overcoupled fused taper couplers as optical switches or electro-optic modulators.

Citation Download Citation

Theodore F. Morse, Meng Pang Chen, Lawrence J. Reinhart, and David A. Brown "Highly overcoupled fused taper couplers as optical switches", Proc. SPIE 2216, Photonics at the Air Force Photonics Center, (3 June 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.177338

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