WAVELENGTH-SELECTIVE OPTICAL-FIBER COUPLERS BASED ON LONGITUDINAL FABRY-PEROT STRUCTURES

A new approach for the development of wavelength selective optical fiber couplers is proposed. It is based on a standard polished fiber coupler in which an intermediate planar multilayer structure, which acts as a transversal optical filter, is included between the two fibers. The simplest multilayer structure, with interesting potential applications, is constituted by high refractive index single-layer Fabry-Perot filters. Experimental results for several single-layer Fabry-Perot filters, as well as a phenomenological model that provides accurate predictions about the wavelength selective coupling ratio, are presented.