Apparatus and method for tuning and switching between optical components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9766403-B2
Application number	US-201615099985-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2016
Priority date	Jul 7, 2015
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

Apparatuses and methods for tuning and switching between optical components are provided. The apparatuses and methods may be used in the context of optical communication. An example apparatus may include a first optical path having a first tunable component and a second optical path having a second tunable component. The apparatus may also include a first switch component for selectively connecting the first optical path to an output, and a second switch component for selectively connecting the second optical path to the output. The first and second switch components may be semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). The apparatus may have a controller that controls the first switch component and the second switch component to select which optical path is connected to the output and controls tuning of the tunable component in the optical path that is not connected to the output.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a first optical path having a first tunable component and a second optical path having a second tunable component;
a first switch component configured to selectively connect the first optical path to an output;
a second switch component configured to selectively connect the second optical path to the output;
a controller configured to control the first switch component and the second switch component to select which optical path is connected to the output and to control tuning of the tunable component in the optical path that is not connected to the output.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an optical coupler configured to couple the first switch component and the second switch component to the output.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the optical coupler is a 3dB directional coupler.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each switch component is a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA).

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein each SOA is selectively configurable by the controller for reverse biasing.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each switch component has a switching time of less than 1 nanosecond.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to alternate between selecting the first tunable component and selecting the second tunable component.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each tunable component is configured to be tunable in optical frequency.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each tunable component is a tunable laser.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein each tunable laser is a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein each tunable laser is a modulated grating Y-branch (MG-Y) laser.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the switch components and the tunable components are monolithically integrated on a single integrated circuit (IC) chip.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the IC chip is mounted on a carrier, the carrier also having mounted at least one of: an optical coupler that couples the first switch component and the second switch component to the output or a thermistor.

14. An optoelectronic package comprising:
a first tunable laser coupled to a first semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), the first SOA configured to suppress light from the first tunable laser;
a second tunable laser coupled to a second SOA, the second SOA configured to selectively suppress light from the second tunable laser;
an optical coupler having inputs connected to outputs of the first and second SOAs and having an output connected to an output of the package; and
a controller configured to control the first SOA and the second SOA to select which tunable laser is to have light suppressed and to control tuning of the tunable laser that has light suppressed.

15. A method comprising:
connecting a first optical path having a first tunable component to an output;
disconnecting a second optical path having a second tunable component from the output;
transmitting a signal from the first tunable component to the output;
while the second optical path is disconnected from the output, tuning the second tunable component;
after tuning the second tunable component, connecting the second optical path to the output and disconnecting the first optical path from the output; and
transmitting a signal from the second tunable component to the output.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein:
connecting and disconnecting the first optical path from the output comprises switching between states of a first switch component; and
connecting and disconnecting the first optical path from the output comprises switching between states of a second switch component.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein each switch component is a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA).

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein switching between states of the first SOA to disconnect the first optical path from the output comprises reverse-biasing the first SOA.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising coupling the first switch component and the second switch component to the output through an optical coupler.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein tuning the second tunable component comprises tuning a frequency of the second tunable component.

21. The method of claim 15 , further comprising tuning the first tunable component while the first optical path is disconnected from the output.

22. An apparatus comprising:
a first optical path having a first tunable component and a second optical path having a second tunable component;
an optical switch configured to selectively connect the first optical path or the second optical path to an input;
a controller configured to control the optical switch to select which optical path is connected to the input and to control tuning of the tunable component in the optical path that is not connected to the input.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein each tunable component comprises a tunable optical filter.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , further comprising a multi-wavelength source coupled to the input.

Assignees

• Jiang Zhiping
• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jiang Zhiping

Classifications

• G02B6/29338

  Loop resonators · CPC title

• H01S5/5027

  Concatenated amplifiers, i.e. amplifiers in series or cascaded · CPC title

• H01S5/062

  by varying the potential of the electrodes (H01S5/065 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01S5/125

  Distributed Bragg reflector [DBR] lasers · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0016

  using wavelength multiplexing or demultiplexing · CPC title