Patent ID: 7149373

Claim:
An integrated polarization splitter having a passive portion and an active portion, comprising: an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) in the passive portion, the AWG including: an input coupler; an output coupler; and a plurality of waveguides of unequal length connecting said input and output couplers; wherein at least two output ports of said AWG are positioned relative to an input port such that a first polarization component and a second polarization component of a single channel input signal arriving at different phase fronts of a free space region at an output side of said AWG are respectively received by separate ones of said output ports such that said first polarization component and said second polarization component are split by said AWG; and wherein the passive portion and the active portion are integrated in accordance with active/passive monolithic integration techniques, wherein the active portion comprises at least one active device for individually modifying at least one of said first polarization component and said second polarization component split by said AWG.