Design of an optical Tunable Attenuator for a displacement sensor.

Project Title

Design of an optical Tunable Attenuator for a displacement sensor.

Project Area of Specialization Information & Communication TechnologyProject Summary

Summary:

• Optical tunable attenuators are key components in integrated photonics and optical communication networks finding application in simulating optical links during testing and link power budget verification, minimizing output signal intensity from laser diodes in order not to overdrive/saturate the receivers to the nonlinear regime, or equalizing the power outputs from optical amplifiers in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) as optical amplifiers amplify the incoming WDM signal based on individual wavelengths.
• In optical tunable attenuators, the degree of attenuation can be adjusted, for example manually using some knob.
• Figure 1 shows that the reflected signal from the displacement sensor is going through the fiber pigtail then it is divided through a power splitter, 95% of the power will go to the delay line & the remaining 5% will go to the photodiode. If the power is high, then this attenuator will do more attenuation & if there is less power, it will do attenuation according to the requirement(less attenuation).

• We will design the optical tunable attenuator by making a few changes to the integrated optical delay line that is based upon MZI.

Project Objectives

Objectives:

Project Implementation Method

Project implementation method:

Step 1:Literature Review.

Step 2: Design of a tunable coupler using MZI.

Step 3:Overall Simulation of Optical Tunable Attenuator.

Step 4:Hardware Implementation of Optical Tunable Attenuator.

Step 5:Use of optical Tunable attenuator in a particular application.

Step 6: Final results & consideration.

Benefits of the Project

Benefits:

• It is beneficial to the laser diodes. When the power increases/decrease, signal strength will also increase/decrease. In Laser Diode, by default, there is an amplifier. If that signal gets a little too high, it can damage the very expensive laser diodes or gives anonymous measurements. Particularly when working with high-power beams, the power handling capability of an attenuator may be another important aspect. It may be relevant not only to safely avoid damage to the attenuator, but also to detrimental effects on the attenuated beam, such as beam distortions, or thermally induced changes in the degree of attenuation.
• Since all the components are based upon semiconductor devices, this optical tunable attenuator can be designed on a single chip.
• It allows for a reduction in the costs and sizes of the devices.
• It also reduces the complexity of a system.
• Optical tunable attenuators can be used in optical sensors

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Technical Details For Final Deliverable:

Optical tunable attenuator will be delivered according to the following technical report:

• Hardware base. 
• PD : Photo Diode 905nm AD500-9 TO52S1F2 with 905nm
• LD: Optical Transmitter 1550nm Laser diode
• MZI : MZI-001 fiber pigtailed Mach-Zehnder free space interferometer
• Optical Fibers
• Optical displacment sensor : MPS 100-1000mm Linear Displacement Sensor
• Software base
• We use Optisystem for simulation of optical tunable attenuator.

         

              

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry TelecommunicationOther Industries IT , Telecommunication Core Technology OthersOther Technologies OthersSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	70000
PD : Photo Diode 905nm AD500-9 TO52S1F2 with 905nm	Equipment	2	4000	8000
LD: Optical Transmitter 1550nm Laser diode	Equipment	1	5000	5000
MZI : MZI-001 fiber pigtailed Mach-Zehnder free space interferometer	Equipment	1	25000	25000
Optical Fibers	Equipment	1	7000	7000
Optical displacment sensor : MPS 100-1000mm Linear Displacement Sensor	Equipment	1	25000	25000