Patent ID: 8452185

Claim:
An optical circuit, comprising: a polarization rotator reflector having a polarization rotator and a reflector; and a polarization sensitive operator comprising an operator component and having an input port, an output port, and an intermediate port, the polarization sensitive operator including: a polarization beam splitter having an input port, a first output port and a second output port; a first output signal path extending from the first output port of the polarization beam splitter; a second output signal path extending from the second output port of the polarization beam splitter for transmitting the optical signal to the polarization rotator reflector; a polarization beam combiner having an output port, a first input port and a second input port; a first input signal path connected to the first input port of the polarization beam combiner, and a second input signal path connected to the second input port of the polarization beam combiner; a second polarization rotator having an input port connected to the first input signal path and an output port connected to the second input signal path; and a polarization sensitive operator coupler optically coupled to the second output signal path and optically coupled to the first input signal path, wherein the polarization rotator reflector component is optically connected to the intermediate port of the polarization sensitive operator via the polarization sensitive operator coupler, such that the input port of the polarization sensitive operator is configured to receive an optical signal having a first polarization and supply the optical signal from the intermediate port to the first polarization rotator via polarization sensitive operator coupler, the output port of the polarization sensitive operator supplying the optical signal such that an action by the operator is substantially equalized.