Patent ID: 9348091
Filing Date: 2016-05-24
CPC Classification: G02B,H04J

Claim Text:
1. An optical apparatus comprising one or more transmissive diffractive optical elements, one or more reflective optical elements, and a set of multiple optical sources or receivers, wherein: the one or more diffractive optical elements, the one or more reflective optical elements, and the set of multiple optical sources or receivers are held in substantially fixed positions relative to one another; the one or more diffractive optical elements include (i) a multiplexed transmission region characterized by a corresponding average grating-normal vector direction, a corresponding average grating wavevector magnitude, and a corresponding average grating wavevector direction, and (ii) multiple demultiplexed transmission regions that are spatially displaced from one another, each of which is characterized by a corresponding average grating-normal vector direction, a corresponding average grating wavevector magnitude, and a corresponding average grating wavevector direction; each one of the one or more reflective optical elements is characterized by a corresponding average reflector-normal vector direction and a corresponding reflector surface shape; the relative positions of the one or more diffractive optical elements, one or more reflective optical elements, and set of multiple optical sources or receivers, the grating-normal vector directions, the grating wavevector magnitudes, the grating wavevector directions, the reflector-normal vector directions, and the reflector surface shapes are such that each one of a set of multiple optical signals, at corresponding different selected signal wavelengths in an operational wavelength range, co-propagating to the multiplexed transmission region along a multiplexed beam path would (i) be transmissively, dispersively diffracted at the multiplexed transmission region, (ii) propagate between the multiplexed transmission region and a corresponding demultiplexed transmission region undergoing at least one reflection from at least one of the one or more reflective optical elements, (iii) be transmissively, dispersively diffracted at the corresponding demultiplexed transmission region, and (iv) propagate between the corresponding demultiplexed transmission region and a corresponding one of the set of multiple optical sources or receivers along a corresponding one of multiple demultiplexed beam paths.