Tunable broadband light coupler based on two parallel all-fiber acousto-optic tunable filters

Based on the evanescent-field coupling between the cladding modes of two adjacent and parallel all-fiber acousto-optic tunable filters, tunable broadband light coupling with relatively uniform insertion loss of trapping spectrum was achieved. In the experiments, a wide spectral tuning range from 1490 nm to 1610 nm, covering the whole C- and L-band and parts of S-bands, was demonstrated with a wavelength tunability slope of-0.72 nm/kHz. The insertion loss of the trapping spectrum was uniform (around -5.0 dB, which can be improved with a longer evanescent-field coupling length) within the whole tuning spectral range. Such a light coupling structure would be useful in tunable broadband light coupler and broadband optical fiber add/drop multiplexer for applications in coarse wavelength division multiplexing systems. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America