Crystal-based Devices — High-power Optical Isolators

The research and application of fiber lasers flourish in recent years. Optical isolators are important devices to ensure the reliability of fiber lasers. Depending on the actual applications, different types of optical isolator are employed. For some applications under relatively low optical power, wedge-type in-line optical isolator is employed, just with more consideration on heat dissipation. While for some applications under high optical power, BD-type in-line optical isolator is employed instead of wedge-type. The reason is that the FR for telecom applications can’t be used anymore.

Crystal-based Devices—Optical Isolators

Optical isolators are widely used in optical fiber communication systems, optical fiber sensing systems and fiber lasers. The basic and common principle for optical isolators is Faraday effect. However, the device structures and characteristics are variable, which are detailed as follow.

Free-space Optical Isolator
The structure of a free-space optical isolator is shown in Fig.1, which comprises two polarizers, a Faraday rotator (FR) and a magnet ring. The transmission axes of the two polarizers are aligned with 45º angle and the FR has a fixed rotatory angle of 45º in a saturated magnetic field.

Fig.1 Structure of free-space optical isolator