A dynamic dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) channel blocker and equalizer is developed based on liquid crystal (LC) and dispersion control technology. A multipixel LC array is adopted to regulate the power level of each DWDM channel, while a reflective grating diffracts the input signals spatially to corresponding LC pixels. A dispersion control unit is proposed and employed to enhance the dispersion and compensate the intrinsic nonlinear dispersion of the grating. Therefore, all LC

more »

... pixels could handle corresponding lights centered at the International Telecommunications Union Grids. A 40-channel, 100-GHz channel-spacing dynamic wavelength blocker/equalizer is thus demonstrated with 5 dB insertion loss and over 40 dB extinction ratio. The maximum center frequency shift of all 40 channels is 2 GHz, which means our dispersion control technology works very well for grating-based DWDM devices.