An optical power combiner/wavelength demultiplexing module for hybrid WDM FTTX.

ABSTRACT

An optical device scheme that serves simultaneously as a power combiner for upstream and wavelength demultiplexer for downstream signals is presented. The design concept is validated experimentally by an optical module based on off-the-shelf discrete optical components. An integrated device based on planar lightwave circuit (PLC) is proposed and analyzed in which a multi-mode interference (MMI) device is utilized to separate the upstream 1310 nm signal from the downstream 155x nm signals. The dense WDM function is realized through an arrayed-waveguide-grating (AWG). Design guidelines and optimization procedure for the device are discussed by way of examples.