Confluent Photonics' DWDM Mux/Demux Optical Platform has three distinct areas of significant intellectual property, which places our components at the forefront of the DWDM marketplace:

• Diffraction gratings with superior performance
• Passive athermal opto-mechanical design
• Filter shaping through a passband control element

Confluent’s technology is protected by 26 issued patents and 18 patent applications.

Click here to explore the interactive diagram of Confluent Photonics' Mux/Demux.

Diffraction Gratings
Diffraction gratings and free-space optics serve as the basis for our multiplexer/demultiplexer products. Confluent Photonics' patented and revolutionary grating design allows for PDL minimization with exceptional diffraction efficiency. Our blazed diffraction gratings are made from mechanically ruled masters. Ruled gratings provide higher efficiencies and higher dispersion solutions with lower PDL than other grating types, including holographic gratings. This superior grating performance makes the use of polarization conditioning elements in Confluent Photonics' Mux/Demux design unnecessary. In our devices, both light polarizations travel exactly the same optical path. We do not use birefrigent elements that add cost, lead to thermal instability, and create alignment difficulties. The use of the reflective diffraction grating allows us to position the incoming and outgoing fibers on the same side of the device, which makes the fiber management easier.

Passive Athermal Design
Confluent Photonics’ advanced opto-mechanical design compensates for refractive index changes and mechanical expansion due to temperature variation. This is why our grating-based mux and demux are famous for their insensitivity to temperature changes. Being passively athermal, our DWDM products require no temperature control. We test every unit to assure that the center wavelength stability and insertion loss variation meet the specifications over a temperature range of -40 to +85 °C.

Filter Shaping
The ability to tailor the spectral shape is performed by the patented passband control element. This micro-optics technology allows Confluent Photonics to widen the filter shapes, and to easily provide flat top filter shapes with minimal insertion loss and chromatic dispersion. Essentially, this is the most energy-efficient method of passband flattening in a dispersive DWDM without violating the law of radiance conservation. Tailoring filter shapes requires modification only in the passband control element. This allows for various spectral profiles to be kept in stock, thereby minimizing product turnaround time and costs.