Variable optical attenuator based on ion-exchange technology in glass

Author

Hurvitz, T. ; Ruschin, S. ; Brooks, D. ; Hurvitz, G. ; Arad, E.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng.Phys. Electron., Tel Aviv Univ., Ramat-Aviv, Israel

Volume

23

Issue

5

fYear

2005

fDate

5/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1918

Lastpage

1922

Abstract

A thermooptic variable optical attenuator (VOA) based on the Mach-Zehnder interferometer principle was fabricated in glass by an ion-exchange technique. The thermooptical effect was reached via heating electrodes on the side of the Mach-Zehnder arms. The insertion loss of the device was 1 dB, the dynamic range was 38 dB, maximal power consumption was 138 mW, and the polarization-dependent loss (PDL) was 0.2 dB/0.6 dB at 10 dB/20-dB attenuations, respectively.

Keywords

Mach-Zehnder interferometers; ion exchange; light polarisation; optical attenuators; optical communication equipment; optical fabrication; optical fibre networks; optical glass; optical losses; thermo-optical effects; 1 dB; 138 mW; Mach-Zehnder interferometer; attenuations; glass; heating electrodes; insertion loss; ion-exchange technology; maximal power consumption; optical fabrication; optical fiber networks; polarization-dependent loss; thermooptic VOA; thermooptical effect; variable optical attenuator; Arm; Dynamic range; Electrodes; Energy consumption; Glass; Heating; Insertion loss; Optical attenuators; Optical losses; Polarization; Ion-exchange in glass; Mach–Zehnder interferometer; optical communication; thermooptical effect; variable optical attenuator (VOA);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2005.844496

Filename

1430790