Polarization and Phase Controller

Key features

  • Worldwide unique product: Endless optical polarization and phase (difference) control
  • Not only an unknown variable incoming polarization is transformed into a fixed output polarization, but also the phase difference between this polarization and its orthogonal is controlled, endlessly (without any interruption).
  • Indispensable for any application where optical polarization and phase control are needed:
    • general retarders with 3 and not just 2 deterministically controlled degrees-of-freedom,
    • optical phased arrays,
    • self-homodyne receivers with polarization beamsplitter for recovery of modulated signal and unmodulated LO with orthogonal polarizations and defined phase relation,
    • coherent optical receivers with simplified electronic signal processing,
    • fiberoptic quantum key distribution (QKD) based on BB84 or similar protocol implemented in the polarization domain.
  • Pilot signals (0°, 45°) in the frequency domain (wavelength domain) or in the time domain or user-supplied error signals
  • The whole normalized Stokes space of the probe signal is stabilized.
  • Endless tracking speed 20 krad/s (typically, in case of EPC1000 with phase control)
  • With pilot signals in the frequency domain: See this presentation and First Endless Optical Polarization and Phase Tracker (OFC/NFOEC 2013).
  • With pilot signals in the time domain for large PMD tolerance: See arXiv:2006.07351 [eess.SP].
  • We have developed more functionalities and are eager to accommodate special requirements.

Functional demonstration