WHAT IS OPTICAL CIRCULATOR ?

With the development of advanced optical networks, applications of optical circulators are expanding rapidly and new functionality and applications are emerging quickly. Because of its high isolation of the input and reflected optical powers and its low insertion loss, optical circulators are widely used in advanced communication systems and fiber-optic sensor applications.

What is Optical Circulator?

An optical Circulator is a non reciprocal device allowing for the Routing of Light from one Fiberto another based upon the direction of the light propagation.

Optical circulators enable the routing of light from one Optical Fiber or Waveguide to another based upon the direction of light propagation. A circulator has at least three optical ports. These ports can be accessed in such order that when a light beam is caused to enter into an optical port, this light-beam after passing through the circulator to exit from a next optical port. The light enters the circulator through a first Port and exits through a second port. Another light that enters the second port exits through a third port and so on. Since the optical circulator is an inherently non-reciprocal device, the light never goes to other ports. Optical Circulator is a passive optical component that can be used to achieve bi-directional transmission over a single fiber in WDM optical networks. It is widely implemented in equipment such as Dispersion Compensation Modules (DCMs), Optical Add-Drop Multiplexers (OADMs), Optical Time-Domain Reflectometers (OTDRs), optical amplifiers, and fiber optic sensors.

Principle of Optical Circulator

Fiber optic circulators are non-reciprocal optics, which means that changes in the properties of light passing through the device are not reversed when the light passes through in the opposite direction.a special fiber-optic component that can be used to separate optical signals that travel in opposite directions in an optical fiber, analogous to the operation of an electronic circulator. An optical circulator is a three-port device designed such that light entering any port exits from the next. This means that if light enters port 1 it is emitted from port 2, but if some of the emitted light is reflected back to the circulator, it does not come out of port 1, but instead exits from port 3.

Applications of Optical Circulator

Optical circulator can be utilized to achieve bi-directional optical signal transmission over a single fiber. It is a very important optical component which is commonly used in passive optical network, (wavelength division multiplexing) WDM network, polarization mode dispersion, chromatic dispersion compensation, optical add-drop modules (OADM), optical amplifiers, optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) and fiber sensing applications. Fiber-Mart provides both polarization insensitive and polarization maintaining optical circulators. These optical circulators feature with high isolation, low insertion loss, and excellent environmental stability etc. Customers can buy these circulators directly in this category or Make Customized Orders.

Main Features of Optical Circulator

• High isolation
• Low insertion loss
• Low polarization dependent loss
• Low polarization mode dispersion
• Excellent environmental stability

Conclusion

From this article,you may have a certain understanding of the optical circulator. for more detailed information about optical circulator, welcome to visit www.fiber-mart.com or contact us :[email protected]