High Speed Electronically Tunable Fiber-Optic Filter

Future advanced fiber optic networks need compact electronically tunable fiber-optic filter. Packet- or cell-level switching requires nanosecond tuning speed is required. Defense especially avionics fiber networks require robust operation. However present tunable filters based on thermal or mechanical mechanisms are inherently limited in tuning speed to the millisecond range and Acousto-Optic Tunable filters lack the required robustness. Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems (IFOS) and the University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center propose the development of an innovative compact electronically tunable fiber-optic filter for aerospace wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) networks.