COMPACT OPTICAL CIRCULATOR FOR OPTICAL FIBER TRANSMISSION

An optical circulator for near IR radiation was developed for optical transmission systems.This circulator consists of a 45° Faraday rotator using a YIG single crystal and two Glan-Taylor prisms.It has four nonreciprocal and two reciprocal pouts.Using reciprocal ports for bidirectional transmission systems with multimode fibers, which do not conserve light polarization, this circulator can receive any polarized light.Insertion losses of 1.5–2.3 dB among four nonreciprocal ports were obtained at 1.32-μm wavelength.An insertion loss 0.66 dB was estimated when nonpolarized light is transmitted, using one nonreciprocal and one reciprocal.port, at 1.32-μm wavelength.© 1979 Optical Society of America.