Patents by Inventor Ettore Colombini

Ettore Colombini has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 4279464
    Abstract: An integrated optical wavelength demultiplexer has deposited on a waveguide layer a pair of Luneburg lenses, the first for collimating light from an optical fiber, the second for focussing light at an array of photodetectors formed under the waveguide layer. Between the lenses is the dispersive element, a thin-film prism of a highly dispersive low-loss material such as arsenic trisulfide. A known integrated optical demultiplexer, which uses a chirped diffraction grating to spatially disperse (rather than angularly disperse) the optical wavelengths, would suffer a greater insertion loss particularly for wavelengths coupled out at a later point in the grating. Demultiplexing with a thin-film prism should also result in the capability to handle a larger number of channels, for a given channel isolation and substrate area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 1979
    Date of Patent: July 21, 1981
    Assignee: Northern Telecom Limited
    Inventor: Ettore Colombini