Smart dynamic wavelength equalizer based on an integrated planar optical circuit for use in the 1550-nm region

• Published in: IEEE photonics technology letters Vol. 11; no. 9; pp. 1150 - 1152
• Main Authors: Schiffer, P.M.J., Doerr, C.R., Stulz, L.W., Cappuzzo, M.A., Laskowski, E.J., Paumescu, A., Gomez, L.T., Gates, J.V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-09-1999
• Subjects: Circuits; Dynamic range; Electromagnetic spectrum; Equalizers; Erbium-doped fiber amplifier; Feedback loop; Integrated optics; Optical feedback; Optical fibers; Silicon compounds
• ISSN: 1041-1135; 1941-0174
• DOI: 10.1109/68.784233

A microprocessor-controlled dynamic wavelength equalizer is presented. Th subsystem is based on an integrated optical circuit made in silica and covers a large portion of the usable region of the electromagnetic spectrum for optical fiber transmission (1530-1565 nm). The chip is connected in a software-controlled feedback loop, and with its dynamic range of /spl sim/7 dB for each channel, the system is capable of flattening the spectral response of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier to within 0.35-dB peak-to-peak. Insertion loss equals /spl sim/8 dB.