Electromagnetic control-based adjustable optical attenuator

Abstract

The invention relates to an adjustable optical attenuator (VOA) in the field of photo-communication, which adopts a three-layer structure, wherein the first layer is a cover plate (8), and a liquid injecting hole (9) which corresponds to a small hole (3) of a gas-liquid chamber (2) is remained on the cover plate; the second layer is a waveguide layer (4) which comprises an emergent optical fiber collimator (6), a square waveguide (1), an electromagnetic driving device (11), a receiving optical fiber collimator (5) and a wire receiving hole (12); the third layer is a flat-plate base (20); a narrow gas-liquid chamber (2) which is along the diagonal direction of the square waveguide is arranged on the square waveguide (1), the upper end of the gas-liquid chamber is sealed, the small hole (3) is remained on the gas-liquid chamber, the lower end of the gas-liquid chamber is connected with the electromagnetic driving device (11) in a sealing way by a pipe (10), and one side of the square waveguide (1) is coated with a black light absorbing material (7); the cover plate, the waveguide layer and the base are connected with one another in the manner of auxiliary bonding by plasmas; and the light intensity coupling efficiency between the optical fiber collimators can be controlled by adjusting the height of index-matching fluid in the gas-liquid chamber (2), so that the optical controllable attenuation adjustment can be realized.

Description

technical field [0001] The patent of the invention relates to a novel variable optical attenuator structure and working principle, which belongs to the technical field of optical communication, photoelectric sensing and optical information processing devices. Background technique [0002] Variable Optical Attenuator (Variable Optical Attenuator, referred to as VOA) is an important optical fiber passive device in intelligent optical networks. It is widely used in channel gain balance and device protection of wavelength division multiplexing system (WDM / DWDM). The production methods of the adjustable optical attenuator include mechanical type, waveguide type, liquid crystal type, micromachine (MEMS) type and the like. Among them, waveguide-type and liquid crystal-type tunable optical attenuator technologies are still immature, and there are very few commercial products. The mechanical adjustable optical attenuator is the most mature, but its volume is large and its structur...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Based on this kind of device structure, mechanical parts such as movable platform, positioning groove and elastic body are required, so the structure is complex, and the elastic body is prone to mechanical fatigue, which affects the performance of the device and shortens the life of the device.

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