This patent document relates to optical devices and techniques for causing optical delays in light.
Optical delay lines are devices that produce desired optical delays in propagation of light and can be operated to adjust signal path delays in light. Optical delay lines can be used in various s applications, including, e.g., optical communication devices/modules, optical sensor devices/systems or other optical instruments. As a specific example, an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system having two interference optical arms for an optical reference beam and an optical sampling beam can implement one or more optical delay lines or devices to cause the relative optical delays between the optical reference and sampling beams.
This patent document discloses designs and techniques for providing compact optical delay lines.
In one aspect, the disclosed technology can be implemented to provide an optical delay device that includes a device housing and a dual fiber collimator engaged to the device housing and structured to include (1) an input fiber line that receives and guides an input light beam, (2) an output fiber line that guides and exports an output light beam that has an optical delay relative to the input light beam, and (3) a collimating lens placed on one side of end facets of the input and output fiber lines to receive the input light beam from the input fiber line and to output the output beam light to the output fiber line. This device can further include an optical reflector placed inside the device housing and spaced from the dual fiber collimator to receive the input light beam and to reflect the input light beam back as the output light beam; and a roof prism located in optical paths of the input light beam and the output light beam between the optical reflector and the dual fiber collimator to direct the input light beam from the dual fiber collimator towards the optical reflector and to direct the output light beam from the optical reflector towards the dual fiber collimator. In some implementations, a positioning device can be engaged to the optical reflector to move a position of the optical reflector relative to the dual fiber collimator and the roof prism to change a delay in the output light beam.
In another aspect, the disclosed technology can be implemented to provide an optical delay device that includes a device housing and a dual fiber collimator engaged to the device housing and structured to include (1) an input fiber line that receives and guides an input light beam, (2) an output fiber line that guides and exports an output light beam that has an optical delay relative to the input light beam, and (3) a collimating lens placed on one side of end facets of the input and output fiber lines to receive the input light beam from the input fiber line and to output the output beam light to the output fiber line. This device can further include an optical reflector placed inside the device housing and spaced from the dual fiber collimator to receive the input light beam and to reflect the input light beam back as the output light beam; and a roof prism located in optical paths of the input light beam and the output light beam between the optical reflector and the dual fiber collimator to direct the input light beam from the dual fiber collimator towards the optical reflector and to direct the output light beam from the optical reflector towards the dual fiber collimator. An actuator is engaged to cause a relative movement between the optical reflector and the dual fiber collimator to change a delay in the output light beam.
In yet another aspect, the disclosed technology can be implemented to provide a method for causing an adjustable optical delay in light to include using a dual fiber collimator that includes (1) an input fiber line to receive and guide an input light beam to be processed to cause an optical delay, (2) an output fiber line to guide and export an output light beam that has been delayed with an optical delay relative to the input light beam, and (3) a collimating lens placed on one side of end facets of the input and output fiber lines to receive the input light beam from the input fiber line and to output the output beam light to the output fiber line; using an optical reflector spaced from the dual fiber collimator to receive the input light beam from the input fiber line and to reflect the input light beam back with the optical delay as the output light beam into the output fiber line; using a roof prism located in optical paths of the input light beam and the output light beam between the optical reflector and the dual fiber collimator to direct the input light beam from the dual fiber collimator towards the optical reflector and to direct the output light beam from the optical reflector towards the dual fiber collimator; and causing a relative movement between the optical reflector and the dual fiber collimator to change an amount of the optical delay in the output light beam.
The above and other aspects and their implementations are described in greater detail in the drawings, the description and the claims.
Various optical delay lines or devices can be constructed in different configurations to meet specific needs for creating optical delays.
As illustrated in
This patent document discloses optical delay lines or devices that are compact in size for various applications.
More specifically, the tips or end facets of the input and output fibers are placed at or near the focal plane of the lens such that, if two light beams are input from the two fibers toward the collimating lens to produce two collimated beams after passing through the lens, the two collimated beams would be in two propagation directions that form a crossing angle. In some implementations of this design in
The compact optical delay line in
As illustrated in
While this patent document contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any disclosed technology or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments of particular disclosed technology. Certain features that are described in this patent document in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a sub combination.
Only a few implementations and examples are described and other implementations, enhancements and variations can be made based on what is described and illustrated in this patent document.
This patent document claims priority to and the benefits of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/503,925 entitled COMPACT OPTIC DELAY LINES and filed on May 9, 2017, which is incorporated by reference for all purposes as part of the disclosure of this patent document.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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62503925 | May 2017 | US |