Patent Application
20160291267
The present disclosure relates to optical transceivers and more particularly, to improved coupling of photodetectors to optical demultiplexer outputs with a refractive index matched material.
Optical communications networks, at one time, were generally “point to point” type networks including a transmitter and a receiver connected by an optical fiber. Such networks are relatively easy to construct but deploy many fibers to connect multiple users. As the number of subscribers connected to the network increases and the fiber count increases rapidly, deploying and managing many fibers becomes complex and expensive.
A passive optical network (PON) addresses this problem by using a single “trunk” fiber from a transmitting end of the network, such as an optical line terminal (OLT), to a remote branching point, which may be up to 20 km or more. One challenge in developing such a PON is utilizing the capacity in the trunk fiber efficiently in order to transmit the maximum possible amount of information on the trunk fiber. Fiber optic communications networks may increase the amount of information carried on a single optical fiber by multiplexing different optical signals on different wavelengths using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). In a WDM-PON, for example, the single trunk fiber carries optical signals at multiple channel wavelengths to and from the optical branching point and the branching point provides a simple routing function by directing signals of different wavelengths to and from individual subscribers. In this case, each subscriber may be assigned one or more of the channel wavelengths on which to send and/or receive data.
To transmit and receive optical signals over multiple channel wavelengths, the OLT in a WDM-PON may include a multi-channel transmitter optical subassembly (TOSA), a multi-channel receiver optical subassembly (ROSA), and associated circuitry. In the ROSA, multiple photodiodes are optically coupled to multiple outputs from an optical demultiplexer, such as an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG), for receiving multiple optical signals over multiple channels.
One of the challenges in these WDM systems is to efficiently couple the photodiode array to the AWG to operate within a power budget where higher receiver sensitivity may be required. Existing systems typically use a lens assembly and/or decrease the spacing between the photodiode and the AWG output. These approaches, however, tend to be relatively more complicated and expensive and may require stricter tolerances and more complex alignment procedures.
These and other features and advantages will be better understood by reading the following detailed description, taken together with the drawings wherein:
A multi-channel receiver optical subassembly (ROSA), consistent with embodiments described herein, includes an optical demultiplexer, such as an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG), with outputs optically coupled to respective photodetectors such as photodiodes. In one embodiment, the system may include an optical demultiplexer including multiple optical outputs corresponding to multiple signal channels and a photodetector array including a plurality of photodiodes aligned with the multiple optical outputs. The system may also include an epoxy, or other suitable material, to serve as a coupling medium, disposed within a gap between each of the photodiodes and each of the corresponding optical outputs of the optical demultiplexer. The epoxy may be configured to provide an index of refraction that is matched to the optical demultiplexer to improve optical coupling to the photodiodes.
A compact multi-channel optical transceiver may include the multi-channel ROSA, and the optical transceiver may be used in a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical system, for example, in an optical line terminal (OLT) in a WDM passive optical network (PON).
As used herein, “channel wavelengths” refer to the wavelengths associated with optical channels and may include a specified wavelength band around a center wavelength. In one example, the channel wavelengths may be defined by an International Telecommunication (ITU) standard such as the ITU-T dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) grid. The term “coupled” as used herein refers to any connection, coupling, link or the like and “optically coupled” refers to coupling such that light from one element is imparted to another element.
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The OLT 110 may be located at a central office of the WDM-PON 100, and the ONUs 112-1 to 112-n may be located in homes, businesses or other types of subscriber location or premises. A branching point 113 (e.g., a remote node) couples a trunk optical path 114 to the separate optical paths 115-1 to 115-n to the ONUs 112-1 to 112-n at the respective subscriber locations. The branching point 113 may include one or more passive coupling devices such as a splitter or optical multiplexer/demultiplexer. In one example, the ONUs 112-1 to 112-n may be located about 20 km or less from the OLT 110.
In the WDM-PON 100, different ONUs 112-1 to 112-n may be assigned different channel wavelengths for transmitting and receiving optical signals. In one embodiment, the WDM-PON 100 may use different wavelength bands for transmission of downstream and upstream optical signals relative to the OLT 110 to avoid interference between the received signal and back reflected transmission signal on the same fiber. For example, the L-band (e.g., about 1565 to 1625 nm) may be used for downstream transmissions from the OLT 110 and the C-band (e.g., about 1530 to 1565 nm) may be used for upstream transmissions to the OLT 110. The upstream and/or downstream channel wavelengths may generally correspond to the ITU grid. In one example, the upstream wavelengths may be aligned with the 100 GHz ITU grid and the downstream wavelengths may be slightly offset from the 100 GHz ITU grid. The ONUs 112-1 to 112-n may thus be assigned different channel wavelengths within the L-band and within the C-band.
The branching point 113 may demultiplex a downstream WDM optical signal (e.g., λL1, λL2, . . . , λLn) from the OLT 110 for transmission of the separate channel wavelengths to the respective ONUs 112-1 to 112-n. Alternatively, the branching point 113 may provide the downstream WDM optical signal to each of the ONUs 112-1 to 112-n and each of the ONUs 112-1 to 112-n separates and processes the assigned optical channel wavelength. The branching point 113 also combines or multiplexes the upstream optical signals from the respective ONUs 112-1 to 112-n for transmission as an upstream WDM optical signal (e.g., λC1, λC2, . . . , λCn) over the trunk optical path 114 to the OLT 110.
One embodiment of the ONU 112-1 includes a laser 116, such as a laser diode, for transmitting an optical signal at the assigned upstream channel wavelength (λC1) and a photodetector 118, such as a photodiode, for receiving an optical signal at the assigned downstream channel wavelength (λL1). This embodiment of the ONU 112-1 may also include a diplexer 117 coupled to the laser 116 and the photodetector 118.
The OLT 110 may be configured to generate multiple optical signals at different channel wavelengths (e.g., λL1, λL2, . . . , λLn) and to combine the optical signals into the downstream WDM optical signal carried on the trunk optical fiber or path 114. Each of the OLT multi-channel optical transceivers 102a, 102b may include a multi-channel transmitter optical subassembly (TOSA) 120 for generating and combining the optical signals at the multiple channel wavelengths. The OLT 110 may also be configured to separate optical signals at different channel wavelengths (e.g., λC1, λC2, . . . , λCn) from an upstream WDM optical signal carried on the trunk path 114 and to receive the separated optical signals. Each of the OLT multi-channel optical transceivers 102a, 102b may thus include a multi-channel receiver optical subassembly (ROSA) 130 for separating and receiving the optical signals at multiple channel wavelengths. As will be described in greater detail below, the multi-channel TOSA 120 and ROSA 130 are configured and arranged to fit within a relatively small transceiver housing.
One embodiment of the multi-channel TOSA 120 includes an array of lasers 122, such as laser diodes, which may be modulated by respective RF data signals (TX_D1 to TX_Dm) to generate the respective optical signals. The lasers 122 may be modulated using various modulation techniques including external modulation and direct modulation. An optical multiplexer 124, such as an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG), combines the optical signals at the different respective downstream channel wavelengths (e.g., λL1, λL2, . . . , λLn).
One embodiment of the multi-channel ROSA 130 includes a demultiplexer 132 for separating the respective upstream channel wavelengths (e.g., λC1, λC2, . . . , λCn). An array of photodetectors 134, such as photodiodes, detects the optical signals at the respective separated upstream channel wavelengths and provides the received data signals (RX_D1 to RX_Dm). As described in greater detail below, the outputs of the demultiplexer 132 may be aligned with and optically coupled to the photodetectors 134, through a material or medium of matched refractive index, to provide a relatively high coupling efficiency. A diplexer 108 may be configured to couple the trunk optical path 114 to the OLT multi-channel optical transceivers 102a, 102b.
In one example, each of the multi-channel optical transceivers 102a, 102b may be configured to transmit and receive 16 channels such that the WDM-PON 100 supports 32 downstream L-band channel wavelengths and 32 upstream C-band channel wavelengths.
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There is typically a design trade-off involved in the selection of the size of the photodiodes 270 (e.g., the surface area available to collect light from the optical outputs 237). A larger surface area may collect more light and operate more efficiently within the power budget, but will generally have a higher capacitance and therefore limit the frequency of the signal that can be detected.
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It will be appreciated that the application of an epoxy between the AWG and the photodiode may be a simpler and less costly procedure than the insertion of a lens or lens assembly. For example, the epoxy may be injected into the gap between the AWG and the photodiode and left to cure. In some embodiments, the epoxy may be applied during the assembly process at approximately the same point at which epoxy is applied to bond the other side of the AWG 235 to the input optical fiber 232.
Accordingly, a multi-channel receiver optical subassembly (ROSA), consistent with embodiments described herein, provides improved coupling of photodetectors to optical demultiplexer outputs using a refractive index matched material as a coupling medium. The ROSA may include an optical demultiplexer including multiple optical outputs corresponding to multiple signal channels and a photodetector array including a plurality of photodiodes aligned with the multiple optical outputs. The ROSA may also include an epoxy disposed within a gap between each of the photodiodes and each of the corresponding optical outputs of the optical demultiplexer. The epoxy may be configured to provide an index of refraction that is matched to the optical demultiplexer.
Consistent with another embodiment, a method is provided for coupling photodiodes to optical outputs of an optical demultiplexer in a multi-channel receiver optical subassembly (ROSA). The method may include mounting the optical demultiplexer in a ROSA housing and positioning a photodetector array, comprising a plurality of the photodiodes, such that each of the photodiodes is aligned with a corresponding one of the optical outputs. The method may further include disposing an epoxy within a gap between each of the photodiodes and each of the corresponding optical outputs of the optical demultiplexer. The epoxy may be configured to provide an index of refraction matched to the optical demultiplexer.
While the principles of the invention have been described herein, it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation as to the scope of the invention. Other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the present invention in addition to the exemplary embodiments shown and described herein.
Modifications and substitutions by one of ordinary skill in the art are considered to be within the scope of the present invention, which is not to be limited except by the following claims.
