Patent ID: 7379640

Claim:
A tunable dispersion compensator comprising: an optical fiber having a grating portion extending along a longitudinal direction and having a group delay time characteristic; heating means for heating the grating portion to apply a temperature distribution to the grating portion; and control means for controlling the temperature distribution applied by the heating means to control the group delay time characteristic of the grating portion, wherein the heating means comprises a heater including a single continuous conductor having electrical resistance and extending in the longitudinal direction of the grating portion along at least the entire length of the grating portion and contacting at least part of the grating portion along the length of the grating portion, and a plurality of wirings electrically connected to the single continuous conductor at respective positions along the longitudinal direction of the grating portion, and the control means supplies voltages to respective wirings, wherein portions of the continuous single conductor function as respective resistors for heating corresponding portions of the grating portion of the optical fiber.