A Stable and Compact Optical Module for Fiber-Optic Gyroscope Application

Abstract

This article introduces a new design for a bi-directional optical sub-assembly for fiber-optic gyroscope applications that integrates a super-luminescent light-emitting diode, a photodiode, a beam splitter, an isolator, a fiber receptacle, and a thermal electric cooler. It is less than 1.5 cm in diameter and 2.5 cm in height. As chip temperature was kept at 30°C under environment temperature of −35°C, 25°C, and 75°C, the bi-directional optical sub-assembly reached stability at a center wavelength of 1,539 nm and a wavelength shift of 1.5 nm. A 3D simple model with the finite-element method was used to analyze thermal performance.

Keywords:

• bi-directional optical sub-assembly
• fiber-optic gyroscope
• laser welding

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chih-Wei Yu

Chih-Wei Yu received his M.S. from at Southern Taiwan University of Sciences and Technology in 2009. He is currently a Ph.D. student with the Department of Electronics Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C. His main research is optoelectronics packaging, optoelectronic integration, optical communications, and the finite-element method analysis for package of thermal simulation.

C. L. Chiu

C. L. Chiu was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1972. He received his B.S. in physics from Tung-Hai University, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 1995, and his M.S. from the Institute of Optical Science, National Central University, Chung-Li, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 2000. He is currently pursuing his Ph. D. at the Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, Nation Sun Yat-Sen University. From 2006 to 2007, he was a intern at Bell Labs, New Jersey. In 2013, he became a faculty member at National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, where he is currently an assistant professor with the Department of Electronic Engineering. His research interests include the developments of lasers, ring lasers, optical filters, and intergrated devices.

Tien-Tsorng Shih

Tien-Tsorng Shih was born in Taiwan, R.O.C., in 1965. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1986 and 1991, respectively. In 1991, he joined Telecommunication Laboratories, Taiwan, as a research associate. From 1996 to 2000, he was a project manager with Chunghwa Telecommunication Laboratories, Taipei, Taiwan. In 2000, he founded Infomax Optical Technology Corporation and was the CEO from 2000 to 2003. He is currently a professor with the Department of Electronics Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Science, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. His main research interests include the theoretical study of optical waveguides and III-V optoelectronic devices, fabrication of laser diodes, PDs, planar lightwave circuits, packaging technology for optoelectronic devices, transceiver modules, and transmission technologies for fiber-optics communication applications.

Jau-Ji Jou

Jau-Ji Jou received his B.S., M.S., and Ph. D. from the Department of Electronic Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 1993, 1995, and 2002, respectively. Since 2003, he has been with the Department of Electronic Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Science, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C., where he is currently an associate professor. His research interests include fiber amplifiers, optical fiber communications, and integrated circuits for optical communications.