Tunable Dispersion Compensator for Telecommunications Using Ion-Exchanged Waveguides

"This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project develops tunable dispersion compensators by planar glass waveguide technology. The buried ion-exchanged waveguides we propose to use enable the fabrication of low-loss waveguides with very lowbirefringence. The process is extremely simple and reproducible, which will facilitate the low-cost production of devices. The proposed design will eliminate the need for the expensive and lossy circulators used in many fiber-based designs. Successfullymeeting the goals in this Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of our approach. It will also provide a stepping stone towards the development of integrated optic dispersion compensators suitable for use in fiber optic telecommunicationsystems. Successfully meeting the goals of the proposed project will facilitate further development of high-speed optical networks for data- and telecommunications. These networks have been critical in the recent, unprecedented growth in the U.S. economy,allowing the development of new technologies and services. High-speed data communications are critical to the sophisticated technology aspects of the U.S. defense."