Structure and characteristics of doublechannel reflecting optical circulator

By adopting doubletail fiber, lens and flat reflector, an innovative scheme, which uses a doublechannel reflecting optical circulator and duplicates the function in comparison with conventional optical circulator with singlefiber tip, is proposed. Typical insertion loss and isolation of the developed reflective circulator are the same as those of the conventional optical circulator. With Jones matrix, the main performances of the reflective circulator are analyzed theoretically. The result shows that the insertion loss may be reduced with antireflective film, the isolation capability depends on the extinction ratio of the crystal it uses, and the performance index of the reflective circulator can meet the requirement of application. In comparison with the conventional circulator, its cost is lower and the volume is smaller.