SBIR Phase I: The Interfractor - A New Optical Dispersive Component

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种新型的坚固耐用的光学色散元件，它将浮雕光栅与适当优化的介电薄膜相结合，实现高色散和高效率(超过90%)，形成一个衍射级，与偏振无关。在采用密集波分复用(DWDM)传输的现代光纤通信系统中，光栅效率对于波长管理至关重要。动态增益均衡器、可重新配置的通道阻塞器、可编程光分插模块和波长选择开关都需要将波长与输入光纤进行空间分离，通常使用衍射光栅，这通常也是插入损耗的最大来源。由于光纤内任何特定波长的光信号的偏振可能随时间而改变，因此通过该设备的净功率损耗必须与偏振无关。在这两种偏振下都很难获得高的光栅效率。Interductor通过新颖且专有的衍射和薄膜干涉效果的组合实现了这一目标，并且可以制造成在DWDM组件所需的宽温度范围内保持坚固耐用。Interductor最直接的商业用途将是改善自由空间光波长管理产品中的插入损耗，例如动态增益均衡器、可重新配置的通道阻塞器、可编程分插模块和波长选择开关，这些产品目前正在采用密集波分复用(DWDM)传输的现代光纤电信系统中实施。这项技术一旦能够制造出来，就将在产品中实施。Interductor还将是用于光学分析仪器(如光谱仪)的独立产品，这些仪器需要高色散和高效率的组合。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop an Interfractor which is a new type of robust optical dispersion element that combines a relief grating with appropriately optimized dielectric films to achieve both high dispersion and high efficiency (in excess of 90%) into one diffraction order, independent of polarization. Grating efficiency is critical for wavelength-management in modern fiber-optic telecommunication systems that employ dense wave-division-multiplexing (DWDM) transmission. Dynamic gain equalizers, reconfigurable channel blockers, programmable optical add-drop modules, and wavelength-selective switches all require spatial separation of the wavelengths from an input fiber, typically with a diffraction grating, which is also typically the largest source of insertion loss. Because the polarization of the optical signal of any particular wavelength within a fiber may change over time, the net power loss through the device must be independent of polarization. It is very difficult to achieve high grating efficiency in both polarizations. The Interfractor achieves this goal with a novel and proprietary combination of diffractive and thin-film interference effects, and can be fabricated to be robust over the wide temperature range required of DWDM components. The most immediate commercial use of the Interfractor will be to improve the insertion loss in free-space optical wavelength-management products, such as dynamic gain equalizers, reconfigurable channel blockers, programmable add-drop modules, and wavelength selective switches now being implemented in modern fiber-optic telecommunication systems that employ dense wave-division-multiplexing (DWDM) transmission. This technology will be implemented in products as soon as Interfractors can be manufactured. The Interfractor will also be a stand-alone product for use in optical analytical instruments, such as spectrometers, that require a combination of high dispersion and high efficiency.