VARIABLE OPTICAL FILTER DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING FILTER CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAME

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a variable optical filter device whose filter characteristics may be arbitrarily changed.;SOLUTION: Incident light from an optical fiber 11 is allowed to enter a frequency dispersion element 15. The frequency dispersion element 15 disperses the incident light in a direction in accordance with a frequency of the incident light and supplies the dispersed light to a lens 16. The lens 16 develops the incident light into a linear shape on the xy plane in accordance with the frequency. A frequency selection element 17 has a pixel structure in which pixels are arranged in a frequency dispersion direction and places, in a reflection state, a pixel disposed in a position corresponding to a frequency to be selected. Light of the frequency thus selected by the frequency selection element 17 is output through an optical fiber 14 via one path. When the reflection characteristic of the frequency selection element 17 is varied for each pixel, characteristics of an optical filter may be arbitrarily changed, resulting in changing a pass bandwidth and shifting a frequency of the filter.;COPYRIGHT: (C)2012,JPO&INPIT