Patent ID: 6956988

Claim:
An apparatus for optical interleaving/de-interleaving, comprising: an input port for receiving an optical signal, said optical signal being polarized light and having multiple channels; a first element for decomposing said optical signal into a first beam and a second beam, said first beam being in a first polarization state and said second beam being in a second polarization state, said first and said second polarization states being orthogonal to one another and including each of said multiple channels; a second element for transforming said first beam into a first elliptically polarized state having odd channels in a third polarization state and even channels in a fourth polarization state, and said second element transforming said second beam into a second elliptically polarized state having even channels in said third polarization state and odd channels in said fourth polarization state; a first passive element thermally coupled to the second element and configured to compensate for thermal effects on the second element; and a third element for combining said odd channels into a first output port and said even channels into a second output port.