Optical Circulators

Optical Circulators are optical devices that are commonly used in fiber optic communication systems to transmit optical signals between multiple fiber optic channels while maintaining the directionality of the signals between the different channels.

The main function of optical circulators is to distribute optical signals from an input channel to multiple output channels and to realize unidirectional transmission between these channels, i.e., optical signals can only be transmitted in a specific direction, not in the reverse direction. This unidirectional transmission characteristic makes the optical circulator have important applications in fiber optic communication systems, such as loop feedback of optical amplifiers, optical signal distribution in fiber optic sensing systems, and so on.

Optical circulators usually consist of multiple fiber optic connectors and optics, and their working principle is based on the magneto-optical effect or waveguide effect. In an optical circulator, the optical signal enters from an input port and is then reflected or refracted by the optics and finally distributed to multiple output ports.