Silica-based planar lightwave circuits (PLC) provide various important devices for both optical wavelength-division-multiplexing networks and optical access network. This paper is an overview of recent progress in PLC technology including optical power splitters, arrayed-waveguide gratings, thermooptic switches, and hybrid integrated PLC's.

Silica-based planar lightwave circuits

Silica-based planar lightwave circuits (PLCs) are playing key roles in both optical dense wavelength-division multiplexing networks and optical access networks. This paper provides an outline of PLC technology focusing on passive devices such as arrayed waveguide grating multiplexers.

Silica-based planar lightwave circuits: passive and thermally active devices

A fuel cell assembly including a membrane electrode assembly, an anode plate, a cathode plate, a removable fuel cartridge, and a fuel delivery system. The assembly includes an anode, a cathode, and a polymer electrolyte membrane having a fuel side and an oxygen side. The fuel cartridge includes an expandable fuel bladder for receiving liquid fuel, an expandable pressure member in contact with the bladder for maintaining a positive pressure on the bladder, and a sealable exit port in fluid communication with the bladder. The fuel delivery system delivers fuel from the cartridge to the fuel side of the membrane. An Interface, Control, and Regulator Circuit for Fuel Cell Powered Electronic Device.

Fuel cell assembly for portable electronic device and interface, control, and regulator circuit for fuel cell powered electronic device

An optical fiber array including a V-groove substrate having a V-groove on which an optical fiber is arranged and a fiber fix substrate for fixing the optical fiber arranged on the V-grooves. In the optical fiber array according to the invention, one of the V-groove substrate and the fiber fix substrate has a concave portion into which the other substrate is arranged in such a manner that a bottom surface of the concave portion of the one substrate is connected to a bottom surface of the other substrate directly or via the optical fiber, and the concave portion has side end walls whose thickness is thicker than that of a bottom portion in which the V-grooves are formed. Moreover, side inner surfaces of the concave portion of the one substrate and side surfaces of the other substrate have a taper shape extending gradually wider toward an opening of the concave portion.

Optical fiber array

A head-up display includes a display device and a combiner that has a rear surface brought into contact with an inner surface of a windshield of a vehicle, and reflects a display light rays emitted from the display device by a front surface of the combiner toward a driver in the vehicle. The front surface forms a first arc-shaped optical surface which receives and reflects the display light rays toward the driver so that the driver sees a first virtual image of the display light rays with a set magnification greater than 1 on the outside of the windshield. The rear surface forms a second arc-shaped optical surface which receives and reflects the display light ray toward the driver so that the driver sees a second virtual image which coincides with the first virtual image in terms of the size and position on an outside of the windshield.

Head-up display

A thin film filter-embedded wavelength-division multiplexer is designed for a hybrid-integrated WDM transceiver based on a silica-based PLC platform. A compact multiplexer with a low insertion loss of 1.1 dB and a low crosstalk of <-50 dB is successfully fabricated.

Filter-embedded wavelength-division multiplexer for hybrid-integrated transceiver based on silica-based PLC

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a blood pressure measuring device capable of measuring a blood pressure highly precisely while stabilizing a pulse wave even though distances between a site to be measured of a subject, and a light emitting element and a light receiving element are changed due to the movement of the subject or the disturbance such as pulsation in a blood pressure measurement using the measurement of the pulse wave by light. SOLUTION: This blood pressure measuring device has the light receiving element receiving the light reflected by the face of the light emitting element side of the expandable member of a cuff of the light irradiated toward the expandable member from the cuff of the light emitting element, the output signal of the receiving element is processed as a noise component along with a pulse wave signal having measured the subject, thereby the noise component due to the movement of the subject and the disturbance such as the pulsation can be reduced, the blood pressure measuring device capable of always measuring the blood pressure highly precisely while stabilizing the pulse wave of the subject even though the device can not be completely secured the subject can be provided. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Blood pressure measuring device

Dielectric multilayered interference filters deposited on spin-coated polyimide film exhibit excellent optical and mechanical properties and are cheaper than conventional filters on glass substrates. Application of these filters to fibre pig-tailed blocking filters is presented.

Dielectric multilayered interference filters deposited on polyimide films

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a biological information measuring apparatus capable of obtaining highly accurate pulse wave information by providing a plurality of light receiving elements, using respective light receiving signals measured by the respective light receiving elements and selecting the light receiving signal in which body movement noise is reduced or which has less noise. SOLUTION: The biological information measuring apparatus of this invention is provided with a case body whose one surface is translucent, at least one light emitting element arranged inside the case body for emitting emission light through one surface to the outside of the case body, and two or more light receiving elements arranged inside the case body for receiving scattered light resulting from scattering of the emission light outside the case body through one surface. Then, the apparatus is further provided with a first measured value processing means for selecting the light receiving signal with the least body movement noise, a second measured value processing means for performing combination processing of the respective light receiving signals and obtaining the light receiving signal in which the body movement noise is reduced, or a third measured value processing means for selecting the light receiving signal in which an evaluation function value composed of the AC component and DC component of a waveform becomes maximum. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Biological information measuring apparatus

PURPOSE: To provide an inexpensive and compact optical transmitting/receiving. CONSTITUTION: This module is a planar optical waveguide circuit type optical transmitting/receiving module for transmitting an optical signal of wavelength 1.55μm through and transmitting/receiving an optical signal of wavelength 1.3μm. A dielectric multilayer film filter 5 is mounted perpendicular to the reference plane of a planar optical waveguide circuit and a single-mode optical waveguide is composed of a first input/output optical waveguide 2 whose one end is connected to a first optical fiber connecting part and a second input/output optical waveguide 3 whose one end is connected to a second optical fiber connecting part and the other end is branched from the first input/output optical waveguide 2 with a branching angle 15 deg.-25 deg. on or in the vicinity of the front surface of the dielectric multilayer film filter 5, the first input/output optical waveguide 2 is Y-branched on the side where the second input/output optical waveguide 3 does not exist in reference to the dielectric multilayer film filter 5 and a laser diode 7 or a photodiode 8 is connected to each branched optical waveguide.

Taisuke Oguchi

Papers

Filter-embedded wavelength-division multiplexer for hybrid-integrated transceiver based on silica-based PLC

Blood pressure measuring device

Dielectric multilayered interference filters deposited on polyimide films

Biological information measuring apparatus

Optical transmitting and receiving module