Design and development of a mux/demux element for WDM over POF

Abstract

POFs (polymer optical fibers) replace traditional communication media such as copper and glass step by step within short distance communication systems, mostly because of their cost-effectiveness and easy handling. POFs are used in various fields of optical communication, e.g. the automotive sector or in-house communication. The current "state of the art" are single mode communication systems. These systems use only one wavelength for communication, which limits the bandwidth. For future scenarios, this traditional technology is the bottleneck of bandwidth, e.g. for HDTV with IP-TV. One solution to surpass this limitation is to use more than one wavelength over one single fiber, a technique known as WDM (wavelength division multiplexing). This multiplexing technology requires two more technical key- elements: a multiplexer, which combines the multi- wavelengths signals into one fiber and a demultiplexer at the end of the network to separate the colored signals. This paper will show computer simulation of the design of several demux/mux-element patterns. The main idea is to split and combine the different wavelengths by means of a grating on an aspheric mirror. The following realization of this key element will be done with injection molding. This technology offers easy and very economical processing. These advantages make this technology first choice for optical components in the low-cost array.