Patent ID: 7228025

Claim:
A thin film interleaver, the thin film interleaver comprising: a dual fiber collimator comprising: an optical substrate; a thin film portion applied to the optical substrate, the thin film portion formed to allow a first group of channels to pass through the thin film portion while reflecting a second group of channels, each channel of the first group of channels being adjacent to at least one of the channels in the second group of channels such that channels in the first group are arranged in alternating fashion with respect to channels in the second group, and the thin film portion comprising at least a first cavity that includes a plurality of thin film layers and a spacer; a matching layer interposed between the optical substrate and the thin film portion, the matching layer being arranged such that the thin film layers of the first cavity are positioned between the matching layer and the spacer of the first cavity; an input fiber for receiving an optical signal comprised of the first and second groups of channels; and a reflection fiber for receiving the second group of channels after they have been reflected by the thin film portion.