Patent ID: 8599468
Filing Date: 2013-12-03
Classification: G02F

Abstract:
1. An optical device, comprising: a wavelength-sensitive optical component having an associated thermal time constant, wherein an operating wavelength of the wavelength-sensitive optical component is a function of several physical parameters including temperature; a heating mechanism, thermally coupled to the wavelength-sensitive optical component, configured to provide heat to the wavelength-sensitive optical component; and a driver circuit, electrically coupled to the heating mechanism, configured to provide a pulse-width modulated signal to the heating mechanism, wherein an average pulse-width modulated heat provided by the heating mechanism, which corresponds to the pulse-width modulated signal, thermally tunes the wavelength-sensitive optical component to a target operating wavelength, wherein the target operating wavelength corresponds to a target operating temperature of the wavelength-sensitive optical component; wherein the driver circuit includes a sigma-delta modulation circuit; and wherein the sigma-delta modulation circuit includes a non-linear counter having different time increments.