Device for improving bandwidth of wavelength selective switch
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of optical communication, in particular to a device for improving the bandwidth of a wavelength selective switch.
Background
A Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS) is the only all-optical signal processing and all-optical switching device with powerful signal processing function at present, and has become an essential and important basic device for the current and future fully-optical and intelligent reconstruction of global optical networks. The wavelength selective switch generally has one optical signal input port and a plurality of optical signal output ports, and can implement a function of outputting any one or a group of wavelength signals in the input optical signals from any output port. The bandwidth is one of important parameters in the communication field, the larger the bandwidth is, the larger the information content is, the ideal light spot is a slender ellipse, and the spectrum corresponding to the bandwidth is in a shape of a Chinese character 'ji'. However, in the prior art, due to refraction and diffraction of a non-main section of a WSS spectrum, the spectrum forms a crescent-shaped curved oblong light spot towards a long wave, which is also commonly referred to as a light spot ellipse shoulder or tail. The elliptical shoulder and trailing conditions of the light spot can be effectively improved by reducing the incident angle, but the area of the light spot is reduced, and the performance of the WSS is reduced.
The invention provides a device for improving the bandwidth of a wavelength selective switch, which solves the technical problem.
Disclosure of Invention
A device for improving the bandwidth of a wavelength selective switch sequentially comprises an optical fiber array FA, a micro lens array LA, a light splitting crystal C1, a first cylindrical lens L1, a second cylindrical lens L2, a half-wave plate C2, a dispersion element G, a focusing mirror F and a deflection device S in the propagation direction of an optical path, wherein the first cylindrical lens L1 and the second cylindrical lens L2 are combined into a lens group in the Y direction.
Preferably, the device for increasing the bandwidth of the wavelength selective switch further comprises a third cylindrical lens L3 arranged between the microlens array LA and the light splitting crystal C1, and the first cylindrical lens L1, the second cylindrical lens L2 and the third cylindrical lens L3 enable light in a Y-Z plane to form collimated light which is expanded. The arrangement of the first cylindrical lens L1 can further expand the light beam, reduce the influence of the crystal birefringence difference, and is more favorable for coupling, large in adjustment margin and favorable for adjustment. The spectral bend can be further reduced and the spectral bandwidth further increased by incidence from the bottom edge of the dispersive element.
Preferably, the apparatus for increasing the bandwidth of the wavelength selective switch further comprises a third cylindrical lens S1 disposed between the dispersion element G and the focusing mirror F, and the third cylindrical lens S1 is a cylindrical lens in the Y-Z plane, and the focal length of the third cylindrical lens S1 is greater than that of the focusing mirror F.
Preferably, in the apparatus for increasing the bandwidth of the wavelength selective switch, the Y-Z plane cylindrical lens S1 acts on the dispersed optical path exiting from the dispersive element G, and further, the focal length of the Y-Z plane cylindrical lens S1 is greater than 1.5 times or more of that of the focusing mirror F.
Preferably, in the apparatus for increasing the bandwidth of the wavelength selective switch, the Y-Z plane cylindrical lens S1 acts on a dispersion optical path emitted from the dispersion element G and an incident optical path emitted from the focusing mirror F, and further, a focal length of the Y-Z plane cylindrical lens S1 is 2 to 3 times or more greater than that of the focusing mirror F.
Preferably, the device for increasing the bandwidth of the wavelength selective switch further comprises a cylindrical lens group which is arranged between the first cylindrical lens L1 and the second cylindrical lens L2, and is formed by combining the fourth cylindrical lens S2, the fifth cylindrical lens S3, the fourth cylindrical lens S2 and the fifth cylindrical lens S3 into an X-Z plane, the beam waist position of the light beam emitted from the microlens LA is shifted to a front focal point of S1, and the beam waist of the light beam is reduced and enlarged in equal proportion, so that the curvature of the light spot and the number of ports of the WSS are adjusted.
Preferably, in the device for increasing the bandwidth of the wavelength selective switch, when the focal length of the fifth cylindrical lens S3 is greater than that of the fourth cylindrical lens S2, the light spot in the X-Z plane direction is greater than the emergent light spot of the microlens array LA, and the light spot on the deflecting device S has small curvature, high straightness and large bandwidth.
Preferably, the apparatus for increasing the bandwidth of the wavelength selective switch further comprises a prism W disposed between the half-wave plate C2 and the dispersive element G. The prism W arranged between the half-wave plate C2 and the dispersion element G can bend the light spot towards the short wave direction under the condition of not influencing the dispersion dimension so as to compensate the phenomenon that the light spot bends towards the long wave caused by the action of the dispersion element.
Preferably, in the apparatus for increasing the bandwidth of the wavelength selective switch, the prism W is an isosceles triangle prism.
Preferably, in the apparatus for increasing the bandwidth of the wavelength selective switch, the dispersive element G is a grating, a prism, or a combination of grating and prism (i.e. a grism).
Preferably, in the apparatus for increasing the bandwidth of the wavelength selective switch, the incident light is incident near the bottom edge of the dispersive element G.
The advantages are as follows:
(1) the WSS device of the present invention advantageously increases the compactness of the device by being incident close to the bottom edge of the dispersive element;
(2) the WSS device disclosed by the invention has the advantages that the third cylindrical lens L3 is added to be combined with the first cylindrical lens L1 and the second cylindrical lens L2 to enable light on a Y-Z plane to form expanded collimated light, so that the influence of birefringence difference is reduced, coupling is facilitated, the adjustment allowance is increased, and adjustment is facilitated;
(3) the WSS device related in the invention extends the focal length and increases the number of ports by additionally arranging the fourth cylindrical lens S1;
(4) the WSS device related in the invention can bend light spots towards the short wave direction by introducing the prism W, so that the light spots bent towards the long wave direction are compensated, the bandwidth is improved, and the number of ports is increased while the light spots are corrected and the bandwidth is improved by matching the cylindrical lens groups (namely the fourth cylindrical lens S2 and the fifth cylindrical lens S3) of the X-Z plane.
Drawings
The embodiments are further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
fig. 1 is an optical path diagram of a WSS apparatus involved in embodiment 1 of the present invention;
fig. 2 is an optical path diagram of a WSS apparatus involved in embodiment 2 of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a diagram of the spot shape (a) and RayFan (b) of a prior art WSS apparatus;
FIG. 4 is a spectrum diagram of a WSS apparatus corresponding to FIG. 3;
fig. 5 is an optical path diagram of a WSS apparatus involved in embodiment 3 of the present invention;
fig. 6 is an optical path diagram of a WSS apparatus involved in embodiment 4 of the present invention;
fig. 7 is an optical path diagram of a WSS apparatus involved in embodiment 5 of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a diagram (a) of the spot shape and a diagram (b) of RayFan after improvement according to embodiments 3-5;
fig. 9 is an optical path diagram of a WSS apparatus involved in embodiment 6 of the present invention;
FIG. 10 shows a diagram of the spot shape (a) and a diagram of RayFan (b) after improvement in accordance with embodiment 6 of the present invention;
FIG. 11 shows a prism dispersion spectrum bend pattern (a) and a dispersion element dispersion spectrum bend pattern (b);
fig. 12 is an optical path diagram of a WSS apparatus involved in embodiment 7 of the present invention;
fig. 13 is an optical path diagram of a WSS apparatus involved in embodiment 8 of the present invention;
FIG. 14 shows a spot shape (a) and a RayFan plot (b) for example 8;
fig. 15 is a spectrum corresponding to fig. 14.
The following detailed description will further illustrate the invention in conjunction with the above-described figures.
Detailed Description
Specific embodiment example 1:
in the prior art, as shown in fig. 1, the DWDM light carrying information is input through the fiber array FA, the numerical aperture NA of the light emitted from the fiber array FA is reduced by the microlens array LA, which is favorable for fiber coupling, the light beam passes through the beam splitter crystal C1 and is split according to the polarization state, the split light beam passes through the cylindrical lenses (the first cylindrical lens L1 and the second cylindrical lens L2) in the Y direction, the light beam emitted by the light splitting crystal C1 is expanded and collimated under the action of a lens group in the Y direction consisting of a first cylindrical lens L1 and a second cylindrical lens L2 and then is emitted to a dispersion element G, the light with different wavelengths in DWDM is dispersed and separated according to the frequency by the action of a grating G, that is, light is dispersed according to wavelength color on a Y-Z plane, the dispersed light is focused on a deflection device S through a focusing mirror F according to frequency, and the focusing mirror F converts an inclined light beam emitted by the deflection device S into a parallel light beam.
Specific embodiment example 2:
compared with embodiment 1, as shown in fig. 2, by replacing the dispersion element G with a prism and making the incident light enter from the vertex angle of the prism, the size of the WSS apparatus can be reduced and the compactness can be improved.
Fig. 3 is a diagram of a shape of a light spot and a RayFan in the WSS apparatus in embodiment 1 and embodiment 2, and fig. 4 is a diagram of a spectrum of the WSS apparatus corresponding to fig. 3, which shows that a light spot is bent toward a long-wave direction and has a large curvature, and a spectrum shape corresponding to the light spot has an elliptical shoulder or a tailing phenomenon, where the light spot corresponding to fig. 1 has a large bending degree and the spectrum elliptical shoulder or the tailing phenomenon is more serious.
Specific embodiment example 3:
compared with embodiment 2, as shown in fig. 5, the third cylindrical lens L3 is added between the microlens array LA and the light splitting crystal C1 to further expand the light beam, and the first cylindrical lens L1, the second cylindrical lens L2, and the third cylindrical lens L3 form collimated light of expanded beam in the Y-Z plane.
On the one hand, the influence of birefringence difference is reduced; on the other hand, the coupling is more facilitated, the adjustment margin is large, and the adjustment of the WSS device is facilitated. The light is incident close to the bottom edge of the dispersion element G, so that the bending of light spots can be further reduced, and the bandwidth of a spectrum is improved.
Specific embodiment example 4:
compared with embodiment 3, as shown in fig. 6, a fourth cylindrical lens S1 is disposed between the dispersion element G and the focusing mirror F, and the fourth cylindrical lens S1 is a cylindrical lens in the Y-Z plane, at this time, the fourth cylindrical lens S1 acts on the dispersed optical path emitted from the dispersion element G, and the focal length of the fourth cylindrical lens S1 is greater than that of the focusing mirror F, so that the oblique light beam deflected by the deflecting device S can be converted into a parallel light beam, the focal length can be extended, and the number of ports can be increased.
Specific embodiment example 5:
as shown in fig. 7, compared with embodiment 3, a fourth cylindrical lens S1 is disposed between the dispersion element G and the focusing mirror F, and the fourth cylindrical lens S1 is a cylindrical lens in the Y-Z plane, at this time, the fourth cylindrical lens S1 acts on both the incident light path and the dispersed light path emitted from the dispersion element G, and the focal length of the fourth cylindrical lens S1 is greater than that of the focusing mirror F, so that the oblique light beam deflected by the deflecting device S can be converted into a parallel light beam, the focal length can be extended, and the number of ports can be increased.
As can be seen from fig. 8, the modified WSS device has an improved spot shape compared to the prior art. Specific embodiment 6:
as compared with embodiment 4, as shown in fig. 9, a fifth cylindrical lens S2 and a sixth cylindrical lens S3 are added between the first cylindrical lens L1 and the second cylindrical lens L2, and the fifth cylindrical lens S2 and the sixth cylindrical lens S3 are combined to form a cylindrical lens group on the X-Z plane, so that the beam waist position of the outgoing beam from the microlens LA is shifted to the front focal point of S1, and the beam waist is reduced and enlarged in equal proportion, thereby adjusting the curvature of the spot.
When the focal lengths of S2 and S3 are equal, the beam waist of the light beam can be converted to the front focal point of the cylindrical lens S1 in the Y-Z plane according to the ratio of 1: 1;
when the focal length of S3 is greater than that of S2, the light spot at the front focal point of the cylindrical lens S1 in the Y-Z plane is larger than the emergent light spot of the microlens array LA, and the light spot on the deflecting device S is relatively straight, less curved, and wider in bandwidth, as shown in fig. 10.
Specific embodiment example 7:
since the prism dispersion spectrum is bent in the short-wavelength direction and the dispersion element dispersion spectrum is bent in the long-wavelength direction as shown in fig. 11, in embodiment 4, compared to embodiment 12, the prism W is additionally provided between the half-wave plate C2 and the dispersion element G to compensate for the bending of the light spot in the long-wavelength direction, thereby improving the flatness of the light spot and increasing the bandwidth of the spectrum.
Specific embodiment example 8:
the combination of the improvements of embodiments 7 and 6, i.e. the addition of the cylindrical lens groups S2 and S3 and the prism W in the X-Z plane, can solve the problems of spot shape and spectral bandwidth. As shown in fig. 14 to 15, the spot shape is flat and the spectrum shape is nearly zigzag, and the bandwidth of the spectrum is large.
The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.