Patent ID: 7092591
Filing Date: 2006-08-15
Classification: G02B,G02F

Abstract:
1. A method for filtering an optical signal, comprising: directing an input optical signal into an optical resonator configured to support whispering gallery modes and comprising a portion where the whispering gallery modes are present, wherein at least the portion of the optical resonator exhibits an electro-optical affect; coupling light out of the optical resonator to produce a filtered optical output from the input optical signal; applying an electrical control signal to at least the portion in the optical resonator to tune a spectral transmission peak of the optical resonator and thus to select spectral components in the input optical signal in the filtered optical output; receiving an input electrical signal carrying multiple signal channels; optically modulating an optical beam with the input electrical signal to produce a modulated optical signal as the input optical signal which carries the multiple signal channels as the signal; tuning the spectral transmission peak of the optical resonator to transmit a selected signal channel in the filtered optical output while optically rejecting other signal channels; converting the filtered optical output into an electrical signal; and extracting the selected channel from the electrical signal.