• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.222-228
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• 2004

The variable optical attenuator based on side polished fiber technique was experimentally demonstrated. Various combination mixtures of poly(vinylidene fluoride) and poly(methyl methacrylate) have been used as the overlay waveguide materials for the variable optical attenuator application. A controllable amount of optical power can be extracted via evanescent coupling by changing the temperature of the polymer mixture, thereby changing its refractive index. The VOA under test provides a maximum attenuation of 30 ㏈ and an insertion loss of 0.1 ㏈.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.15-18
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• 2014

This work studies a variable optical attenuator using a reflective type liquid crystal cell for optical switches. The proposed architecture is capable of comprising a compact and low voltage driving variable optical attenuator. The usefulness of the proposed architecture is demonstrated by showing characterization of the liquid crystal cell, temperature effects, and response characteristics of the architecture.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.122-125
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• 2005

A polymer-based planar-lightwave-circuit-type variable optical attenuator (VOA) was fabricated using a hot embossing process. With an optimized one-step embossing process, forty micro-channels for the guidance of light were defined on a polymer thin film with an accuracy of ${\pm}0.5{\mu}m$. The fabricated polymeric thermo-optic VOA shows 30 dB attenuation with 110 mW electrical input power at $1.55{\mu}m$. The rise and fall times are less than 5 ms.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.349-353
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• 2009

We propose a simple in-line variable optical attenuator (VOA) based on the bending effect of tapered single mode fibers. The influence of the taper structure and the reflective index of the external medium surrounding the taper region on the bending loss of the tapered fiber have been investigated experimentally. An attenuation range exceeding 35 dB and a very low excess loss of < 0.2 dB at 1550 nm were achieved. The measured polarization dependent loss of the present VOA at the attenuation level of 10 dB, 20 dB, and 30 dB were 0.1 dB, 0.2 dB, and 0.5 dB, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.306-308
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• 2003

본 논문은 variable optical attenuator(VOA)에 응용하기 위한 comb actuator를 설정하기 위해, 요구되는 조건에 가장 적합한 comb actuator를 설계하기 위한 방법을 제시한다. VOA 응용을 위한 comb actuator 설계에서 고려되어야 하는 조건들은 comb actuator의 performance(변위, 공진 주파수), 구동 전압 그리고 공정의 한계(최소 선폭, 최소 간격, 두께) 등이다. 이러한 조건들이 정해지면, 이 조건들을 comb actuator의 구동력과 지지빔 스프링에 의한 복원력에 대입하여 두 힘이 평형일 때의 조건으로부터 comb finger의 수와 구동부의 질량 및 지지빔의 길이 등의 선계 변수들을 정할 수 있다. 그리고 comb actuator의 질량으로 부터 구동부의 면적을 구할 수 있고, 이러한 조건에서 구한 지지빔의 면적과 비교하여 적절한 구동부의 면적을 설정한다. 이상의 내용을 조합해서 요구된 조건이 comb actuator 설계에 적합한지의 여부를 확인했고, VOA 응용을 위한 요구 조건에 맞는 comb actuator 설계를 했다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.448-452
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• 2004

The micromachined variable optical attenuator(VOA) was presented in the paper. The VOA has two single mode fiber(SMF) aligned with free space and symmetric parallel plate actuator with microshutter, which can control a amount of light by driving the actuator. In the paper, analysis on driving performances of the VOA was performed and can be reduced threshold voltage through the decreasing displacement actuating range. This paper presents a VOA that is fabricated using bosch deep silicon etching process with silicon on insulator(SOD wafer. The VOA consists of driving electrode, ground electrode, actuating microshutter, and mechanical stopper. In this VOA, actuating shutter is driven by electrostatic force and the threshold voltage is close to 28V, 46V come along with the spring width of 5${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, 7${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ respectively. Attenuation range is measured from 2.4㏈ to 16.7㏈.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.83-89
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• 2004

A variable optical attenuator with a bending-sensitive fiber (BSF) that can be used in optical networks is developed. The refractive index profile of the BSF is divided into four regions which are inner core, center dip of inner core, outer core and clad. The 3-dimensional finite difference beam propagation method (3D FD-BPM) is utilized to find the characteristics of the BSF, so the mode profile of the BSF and optical power attenuation according to the bending are investigated, and the equivalent model of the BSF is made. By using this equivalent model of the BSF, the BSF is fabricated, and the refractive index profile of the BSF is measured, which is similar to refractive index profile of the proposed BSF. The fabricated variable optical fiber attenuator (VOFA) consists of the BSF in a rectangular rubber ring with a fixed bend radius (BR) in a steady state. The VOFA using the proposed BSF was able to attenuate the optical power by more than about －38 ㏈ at certain wavelengths (1540∼1560 nm) based on adjusting the mechanical pressure applied to the upper surface of the rectangular rubber ring with the bent BSF. In addition, the proposed VOFA produced an insertion loss of 0.68 ㏈, polarization dependent loss (PDL) of about 0.5 ㏈, and return loss of less than －60 ㏈.

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.02a
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• pp.292-295
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• 2005

Variable optical attenuators (VOA) made of low-loss fluorinated polymers are demonstrated which shows a low operating power less than 30 mW due to the superior thermo-optic effect of polymer material and a low insertion loss less than 1.0 dB by incorporating highly fluorinated polymers to reduce the absorption loss at 1550 nm. An attenuator-integrated low-crosstalk polymeric digital optical switch (DOS) is also demonstrated. The switch and attenuator shares a single connected electrode which is controlled by a single current source. Due to the simple structure of the integrated attenuator, the device length is reduced to 1 cm so as to provide low insertion loss of 0.8 and 1.1 dB for 1300 and 1550 nm, respectively. The attenuator radiates remained optical signal on the switch-off branch in order to decrease the switching crosstalk to be less than -70 dB with an applied electrical power of 200 mW.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.28-31
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• 2018

In this paper, we have proposed and demonstrated a variable optical attenuator (VOA) incorporating a dual-fiber collimator and a bimetallic actuator. The optical attenuation between input and output single-mode fibers was tuned by tilting the angle of a reflection mirror fixed on the bimetal. The bimetal was heated or cooled by a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) and then moved the reflection mirror, due to bending and unreeling. The desired optical attenuation can be obtained through adjusting the electrical input into the TEC. The fabricated device showed 0.5 dB of insertion loss, 0.2 dB of maximum polarization-dependent loss, and 40 dB of dynamic range. The response time was measured to be about 5 s.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.29 no.5A
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• pp.566-573
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• 2004

A variable optical attenuator with a bending-sensitive fiber (BSF) that can be used in optical networks is developed. The proposed BSF consists of inner core, outer core, center dip and cladding. The proposed BSF is also very sensitive to mechanical perturbation, such as bending and pressure, making the light propagating in the BSF easily controlled and attenuated. The fabricated fiber-type variable optical attenuator using the proposed BSF (VOAFB) consisted of the BSF in a rectangular rubber ring with a fixed bend radius (BR) in a steady state. The variable optical attenuator using the proposed BSF (VOAFB) was able to attenuate the optical power by more than about -38㏈ with the gradient -88.4［㏈$.$$cm^{-1}$ /］ at (1540∼1560nm) based m adjusting the mechanical pressure applied to the upper surface of the rectangular rubber ring with the bent BSF. According to the experimental results when using the proposed VOAFB, the optical power was easily controlled by adjusting mechanical pressure and produced an insertion loss of 0.68㏈, polarization loss of 0.5㏈, and return loss of less than -60㏈.