Compact all-fiber add-drop-multiplexer using fiber Bragg gratings

Abstract

A novel compact all-single-mode fiber add-drop-multiplexer for dense wavelength-division-multiplexing systems is demonstrated. The device consists of a polished fiber coupler with identical Bragg gratings within the interactive length. The multiplexer operation has been theoretically analyzed and calculated transmission and reflection spectra are given. A fabricated prototype device shows good performance, but suffers from a high-insertion loss of 7 dB, which is due to the long but imperfect coupling region and can be drastically reduced in principle. A return loss >30 dB, coupling efficiency=99%, and bandwidth at FWHM /spl Delta//spl lambda/=1.2 mn was measured.