Notes Before Purchasing Optical Circulator

Introduction to Optical Circulator

An optical circulator is a special kind of fiber optic device which can separate optical power traveling in one single optical fiber in opposite directions. 

When the optical signal is input from the specified port, it can only propagate along the specified sequence in the device, when the optical signal transmission sequence is changed, its loss is very large, so the signal isolation can be realized. With the development of optical fiber communication technology, it has become one of the important components of optical fiber communication systems in the present and future.

Main Features of Optical Circulator

The Optical Circulator device enables bidirectional optical signal transmission on a single fiber. The following key features should be considered:

●Low Insertion Loss

●Low PDL

●Wide Band, High Isolation

●Epoxy Free Optical Path

●Compact In-line Package

●High Stability and Reliability

Major Applications

Optical circulators are commonly used in passive optical networks. These are a few of the above features that make the circulator highly suitable for the use in a wide range of applications. Optical Circulators are widely used in:

● WDM networks

●Polarization Mode Dispersion,

●Dispersion Compensation,

●Optical Division and Interpolation Modules (OADM),

●Optical Amplifiers,

●Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (OTDR)

●Fiber Optical Sensing

●Pump Laser Source

●Test and Measurement

●Instrumentation

How does the optical circulator work?

The signal transmission direction of the circular device is irreversible. Optical signals can only be directed from one port to another at a time in one direction. Although the optical signal can be redirected, it must pass through the ports sequentially in one direction. For example, in a circulator that has 3 ports, the signal is pushed from port 1 to port 2, and another signal is directed from port 2 to port 3 and at last, a third signal is transmitted from the last port to again port 1. This is how the circulator helps you control the light and direct the signals into the desired direction.

If you are looking for high-quality circulators and the best most competitive price, we are a professional supplier and provide customized three-port, four-port, different power, a different wavelength of optical circulators, please feel free to contact us.