FIBER OPTIC SIGNAL MULTIPLEXING USING NON-IMAGING OPTICS ANDHOLOGRAPHIC OPTICAL ELEMENTS

THE CURRENT APPROACHES TO FIBER OPTIC SIGNAL MULTIPLEXING/DEMULTIPLEXING INVOLVE SCHEMES IN THE TIME, WAVELENGTH, DIRECTIONAL, AND ANGULAR DOMAINS. THE PURPOSE IS TO INCREASE THE BADWIDTH AND PARALLELISM IN LINKING A NETWORK OF FIBER OPTIC SENSORS AND COMMUNICATION DEVICES WITH A MINIMUM NUMBER OF CABLES. THE PRESENT RESEARCH PROVIDES A NOVEL APPROACH TO FABRICATING MONOMODE AND MULTIMODE FIBER OPTIC MULTIPLEXING DEVICES USING HIGH EFFICIENCY HOLOGRAPHIC OPTICAL ELEMENTS (HOE) AND THE NON-IMAGING OPTICS (NIO) PRINCIPLE. THE FORMER ALLOWS THE FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION OF COMMON BULK OPTICS COMPONENTS LIKELENSES, MIRRORS, AND GRATINGS INTO A SINGLE ELEMENT, WHILE THE LATTER PROVIDES THE MOST OPTIMAL MEANS OF BEAM FOCUSING AND COLLIMATION IN COMPARISON WITH CONVENTIONAL IMAGING OPTICS. THE INTRINSIC GEOMETRY OF THE HOE AND NIO COUPLERS FOR BEAM FORMING AND SPECTRAL SEPARATION ALSO ALLOWS EASIER MOUNTING AND ALIGNMENT. THIS NEW APPROACH TO FIBER OPTIC MULTIPLEXERS WILL RESULT IN FEWER COMPONENTS, MORE INTEGRATED DESIGN, AND ADAPTABILITY TO HIGH CHANNEL DENSITY APPLICATIONS IN INDUSTRIAL SENSING AND CONTROL.