What is claimed is:
1. An optical fiber link comprising:
an optical fiber configured to producer Raman gain and to provide for propagation of one or more optical signals propagating therealong;
a pump source coupled to the link for providing pump light providing optical Raman distributed gain along at least a portion of the fiber link;
said distributed gain higher along an internal portion of the fiber than either side of said internal portion.
2. The optical fiber link of claim 1 wherein the gain distribution is greater in the internal portion of the fiber link as compared to end regions of the fiber link.
3. The optical fiber link of claim 1 wherein pump light intensity is highest in the internal portion of the fiber transmission link as compared to end regions of the fiber link.
4. The optical fiber link of claim 1 further comprising:
a two-core fiber comprising said fiber link, one of said cores for propagation of said signals and the other of said cores for propagation of said pump light;
a plurality of distributed couplers along the internal portion between said cores for distributing pump light into the propagating signal core.
5. The optical fiber link of claim 4 wherein said fiber cores are juxtaposed in the fiber link.
6. The optical fiber link of claim 4 wherein said fiber cores are concentric in the fiber link.
7. The optical fiber link of claim 1 further comprising a rare earth dopant in a core of the fiber link along at least a portion of said fiber link internal portion.
8. The optical fiber link of claim 7 wherein said dopant is erbium.
9. The optical fiber link of claim 7 wherein said distributed gain is brought about by rare earth generated gain and Raman generated gain.
10. The optical fiber link of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of optical pumps periodically coupled to the fiber link along at least a portion of said internal portion.
11. The optical fiber link of claim 1 further comprising at least one fiber grating in the fiber link internal portion to provide for gain distribution therein.
12. The optical fiber link of claim 1 further comprising at least one gain cavity provided in the internal portion wherein gain is generated between end reflectors establishing the optical cavity.
13. The optical fiber link of claim 12 further comprising a plurality of gain cavities in the fiber link internal portion.
14. The optical fiber link of claim 13 wherein said gain cavities are spatially separated.
15. The optical fiber link of claim 13 wherein said gain cavities are overlapping.
16. The optical fiber link of any one of claims 13 through 15 wherein the gain generated is Raman generated gain.
17. The optical fiber link of any one of claims 1 through 15 wherein the gain generated is rare earth ion generated gain.
18. The optical fiber link of claim 1 further comprising a reflector for said pump light within the fiber to cause the pump gain provided by said pump source to be the greatest in said internal portion of the fiber link.
19. The optical fiber link of claim 18 wherein said reflector is a grating.
20. The optical fiber link of claim 1 further comprising a pump source including cascaded Raman resonator for shifting the pump wavelength to a generated wavelength providing gain to a signal or signals.
21. The optical fiber link of claim 20 wherein said cascaded Raman resonator is provided along said internal portion of said fiber.
22. The optical fiber link of claim 1 wherein there are a plurality of pump sources.
23. The optical fiber link of claim 22 wherein said pump sources are wavelength stabilized.
24. The optical fiber link of claim 23 wherein said pump stabilization is brought about by a fiber grating controlling the wavelength of each pump source.
25. The optical fiber link of claim 24 wherein each of said pump sources are driven into coherence collapse operation.
26. The optical fiber link of claim 24 wherein outputs of at least some of said pump sources are wavelength combined.
27. The optical fiber link of claim 1 wherein said pump source is wavelength stabilized.
28. The optical fiber link of claim 27 wherein said pump stabilization is brought about by a fiber grating controlling the wavelength of the pump source.
29. The optical fiber link of claim 27 wherein said pump source is driven into coherence collapse operation.
30. An optical fiber link comprising:
an optical fiber configured to produce Raman gain and to provide for propagation of a plurality of optical signals;
at least one pump source coupled to Raman pump light into the fiber having a predetermined power level;
a control circuit for operating the pump source;
a controller to detect the number of optical signals propagating along the fiber; and
said controller to reduce or increase the power level of the pump source as the total number of optical signals propagating along the fiber is correspondingly reduced or increased.
31. The optical fiber link of claim 30 wherein each optical signal is operating at a different wavelength.
32. The optical fiber link of claim 30 wherein a first pump source is at a wavelength of a first Raman order.
33. The optical fiber link of claim 30 wherein there are at least two pump sources, the first pump source is operating at a wavelength of a first Raman order and the second pump source is operating at a wavelength of a second Raman order.
34. The optical fiber link of claim 33 wherein said first Raman order pump source is counter propagating its light along the fiber and said second Raman order pump source is co-propagating its light along the fiber so that the Raman gain achieved in the fiber for said optical signals via said first Raman order pump light is extended a greater distance in the fiber toward said second Raman order pump source.
35. The optical fiber link of claim 33 wherein said first Raman order pump source is counter propagating its light along the fiber and said second Raman order pump source is counter-propagating its light along the fiber so that the Raman gain achieved in the fiber for said optical signals via said first Raman order pump light is extended a greater distance into the fiber because of energy transfer from the second Raman order pump to the first Raman order pump.
36. The optical fiber link of claim 30 wherein said controller provides for additional gain in the fiber when one or more of said optical signals are added to propagate in the fiber.
37. The optical fiber link of claim 30 wherein said pump source counter propagates in the fiber relative to said optical signals.
38. The optical fiber link of claim 30 wherein there are a plurality of pump sources.
39. The optical fiber link of claim 30 wherein said pump source or sources are wavelength stabilized.
40. The optical fiber link of claim 39 wherein pump stabilization is brought about by a fiber grating.
41. An optical fiber link comprising:
an optical fiber for propagation of a plurality optical signals propagating therealong;
said fiber having a predetermined Raman gain spectrum;
at least one pump source coupled to pump light into the fiber having a predetermined power level;
a control circuit for operating the pump source;
said circuit including means to dynamically vary the wavelength output of the pump source.
42. An optical fiber link comprising:
a plurality of signal sources;
a plurality of pump sources;
a subset of said signal sources activate at periods of time and inactivate at other periods of time; and
a subset of said pump sources reduced in power during said periods of time when said subset of signal sources is inactive.
43. An optical fiber link comprising a plurality of signal sources, a plurality of pumps sources capable of exciting Raman gain in the optical fiber link, wherein at least one pump source is adjusted to selectively increase or decrease pump power.
44. The optical fiber link of claim 43 wherein at least one pump source is capable of being controlled to substantially provide no Raman gain at a particular wavelength or wavelength bandwidth.
45. A optical fiber link comprising:
a transmission fiber configured to produce Raman gain and provide Raman distributed amplification along the fiber;
at least one signal for propagating along the transmission fiber;
at least one pump source for providing Raman gain in the fiber link; and
a reflector for said pump light within the fiber to cause the pump gain provided by said pump source to be discontinuous along the length of the fiber link.
46. The optical fiber link of claim 45 wherein said reflector is a fiber Bragg grating.
47. The optical fiber link of claim 45 further comprising a pump source that includes a Raman resonator.
48. A optical fiber link comprising:
a transmission fiber configured to produce Raman gain and provide Raman distributed amplification along the fiber;
at least one signal for propagating along the transmission fiber;
a first pump source for providing a first pump signal having stokes shifted gain in the fiber link to the signal source;
and a controller connected to said pump source for controlling the bandwidth of said sources to be within the Raman gain bandwidth of the fiber.
49. The optical fiber link of claim 48 further comprising a second pump source for providing a second pump signal having stokes shifted gain in the fiber link for the first pump signal.
50. The optical fiber link of claim 49 wherein both of said pump sources have their bandwidth controlled by said controller.
51. The optical fiber link of claim 49 wherein both of said pump sources have their bandwidth controlled by separate controllers.
52. The optical fiber link of claim 49 wherein each of said pump sources are driven into coherence collapse operation.
53. The optical fiber link of claim 49 wherein outputs of at least some of said pump sources are wavelength combined.
54. The optical fiber link of claim 48 wherein said pump source is wavelength stabilized.
55. The optical fiber link of claim 54 wherein said pump stabilization is brought about by a fiber grating controlling the wavelength of each pump source.
56. A lossless fiber link in an optical transmission system, the link comprising an optical fiber with optical transmission characteristics that produce Raman gain in the fiber such that power of an optical signal or signals at a signal wavelength or bandwidth propagating through the optical fiber from the first end to the second end varies by no more than about five dB along a length of the optical fiber of about thirty kilometers or more due to Raman distributed gain provided by a pump source coupled to the fiber.
57. A link according to claim 56 comprising a plurality of pump sources coupled to the optical fiber to obtain the optical transmission characteristics of the optical fiber, wherein each of the pump sources provides pump energy at a respective pump wavelength that differs from the signal wavelength by one or more Stokes shifts.
58. A first link according to claim 57 coupled to a second link in the optical transmission system, wherein one of the pump sources is also coupled to the second link and provides pump energy thereto.
59. A first link according to claim 58 wherein the pump source that is also coupled to the second link provides pump energy at a first pump wavelength to the first link and provides pump energy to the second link at a second pump wavelength that differs from the first pump wavelength.
60. A link according to claim 56 comprising a control circuit that selects a pump source from a plurality of pump sources to provide pump energy to the optical fiber, wherein the plurality of pump sources provide pump energy at different wavelengths that all differ from the signal wavelength by the same number of Stokes shifts.
61. A link according to claim 56 wherein transmission losses of the optical fiber are substantially minimized for the pump wavelength that differs from the signal wavelength by one Stokes shift.
62. A link according to claim 56 comprising one or more reflectors in the optical fiber that reflect energy at one or more of the pump wavelengths.
63. A link according to claim 56 comprising at least one pair of reflectors in the optical fiber, wherein a respective pair of reflectors reflects energy at a respective pump wavelength.
64. A link according to claim 63 wherein the respective pump wavelength is the second Raman order relative to the signal wavelength.
65. A link according to claim 63 comprising one reflector of a pair is in the coupling fiber between the pump source to the fiber for coupling pump light from the pump source to the fiber.
66. A link according to claim 63 comprising one reflector of a pair is in the fiber downstream from a point of optical coupling of the pump light from the pump source to the fiber.
67. A link according to claim 63 wherein said reflectors are fiber Bragg gratings.
68. A link according to claim 56 comprising a plurality of the pump sources that provide pump energy at substantially the same wavelength.
69. A link according to claim 56 comprising a plurality of the pump sources coupled to the optical fiber at a plurality of locations distributed along the length of the optical fiber.
70. A link according to claim 69 comprising one or more gratings formed in the optical fiber that distributively couple the plurality of pump sources.
71. A link according to claim 56 wherein the optical fiber maintains polarization orientation of the optical signal and pump the energy, and wherein pump energy from one pump source is coupled into the optical fiber such that the polarization orientation of the pump energy is substantially orthogonal to the polarization orientation of the optical signal.
72. A link according to claim 71 wherein the pump source is coupled to the optical fiber at a location separated from the optical fiber center by no more than twenty-five per cent of the optical fiber length.
73. A link according to claim 56 comprising a control circuit that varies the pump energy amplitude provided by one or more of the pump sources.
74. A link according to claim 73 wherein the control circuit causes pump energy to vary.
75. A link according to claim 73 wherein the control circuit varies pump energy to compensate for variations in operational characteristics caused by aging of the fiber.
76. A link according to claim 56 wherein the respective pump wavelengths of the one or more pump sources is shorter than the signal wavelength.
77. A link according to claim 56 comprising ions of a rare-earth dopant disposed within the optical fiber, wherein the dopant ions are pumped by the pump energy provided by the one or more pump sources.
78. A link according to claim 56 comprising a plurality of the pump sources that provide pump energy at substantially different wavelengths.
79. A link according to claim 56 comprising a control circuit coupled to one or more of the pump sources to control pump energy level, thereby controlling the optical transmission characteristics of the optical fiber.
80. A link according to claim 79 wherein the control circuit is coupled to a detector that detects levels of the optical signal proximate to the first end, whereby optical gain of the optical fiber is controlled in response to the optical signal level.
81. A link according to claim 80 wherein the control circuit is coupled to a pump source proximate to the first end.
82. A link according to claim 80 wherein the control circuit is coupled to a pump source proximate to the second end.
83. A link according to claim 56 comprising a first pump source that provides pump energy propagating toward the first end at a first pump wavelength and a second pump source that provides pump energy propagating toward the second end at a second pump wavelength, wherein the first pump wavelength differs from the signal wavelength by a first number of Stokes shifts and the second pump wavelength differs from the signal wavelength by a second number of Stokes shifts.
84. A link according to claim 83 comprising one or more additional pump sources that provide pump energy at respective pump wavelengths that differ from the signal wavelength by one or more Stokes shifts.
85. A link according to claim 83 wherein the first number of Stokes shifts differs from the second number of Stokes shifts.
86. A link according to claim 56 wherein the optical transmission characteristics of the optical fiber are such that chromatic dispersion characteristics vary along the length of the optical fiber.
87. A link according to claim 86 wherein the optical fiber comprises one or more first segments having a first chromatic dispersion characteristic and one or more second segments having a second chromatic dispersion characteristic that compensates for the first chromatic dispersion characteristic, and wherein the one or more second segments provide optical gain.
88. A link according to claim 87 wherein the one or more second segments are arranged proximate to the optical fiber center.
89. A link according to claim 56 wherein the optical transmission characteristics of the optical fiber are such that distributed optical gain is maximized and four-wave mixing is minimized.
90. A link according to claim 89 wherein the optical transmission characteristics vary along the length of the optical fiber.
91. A link according to claim 90 wherein the optical fiber comprises a silica-glass host in which germanium ions are disposed according to a density that varies along the length of the optical fiber.
92. A link according to claim 89 wherein the optical signal is substantially confined to a first region of the optical fiber and the pump energy is substantially confined to a second region of the optical fiber that is optically proximate to the first region.
93. A link according to claim 89 wherein the optical fiber comprises a first segment of fiber adjacent to the first end, a second segment of fiber adjacent to the second end, and a third segment of fiber between the first and second segments of fiber, and wherein the distributed optical gain of the optical fiber in the third segment is higher than the distributed optical gains of the first and second segments.
94. The optical fiber link of claim 56 wherein said pump source comprises two pump sources of first and second Raman order relative to said signal wavelength or bandwidth, said first Raman order pump source is counter propagating its light along the fiber and said second Raman order pump source is co-propagating its light along the fiber so that the Raman gain achieved in the fiber for said optical signal or signals via said first Raman order pump light is extended a greater distance in the fiber toward said second Raman order pump source.
95. The optical fiber link of claim 56 wherein said pump source comprises two pump sources of first and second Raman order relative to said signal wavelength or bandwidth, said first Raman order pump source is counter propagating its light along the fiber and said second Raman order pump source is counter propagating its light along the fiber so that the Raman gain achieved in the fiber for said optical signals via said first Raman order pump light is extended a greater distance into the fiber because of energy transfer from the second Raman order pump to the first Raman order pump.
96. The optical fiber link of claim 95 wherein pump power of said second Raman order pump is maintian at a higher level than pump power of first Raman order pump, the pump power of said second Raman order pump varied to change the point of peak Raman gain provided by said first Raman order pump in said fiber link.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for manufacturing a display apparatus, the method comprising:
preparing a film device including a device layer arranged on a first thermoplastic film, the device layer being a multi-layer product including a polyimide film and a device body, and the polyimide film being sandwiched between the device body and the first thermoplastic film;
heating the first thermoplastic film of the film device when the first thermoplastic film is pressed against a forming mold, so as to stretch the first thermoplastic film to conform to a shape of the forming mold; and
removing the forming mold from the first thermoplastic film of the film device, wherein
the heating is performed at a temperature lower than a temperature limit of the polyimide film.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein
the preparing includes:
sequentially forming and stacking a sacrificial film, a polyimide film, and a device body on the supporting substrate;
removing the supporting substrate and the sacrificial film from the device layer, through emission of a laser beam onto the sacrificial film; and
applying the first thermoplastic film to the polyimide film of the device layer.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein
the film device further includes a second thermoplastic film such that the device layer is sandwiched between the first and second thermoplastic films.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein
the heating is performed at a temperature ranging from 80\xb0 C. to 250\xb0 C.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein
the first thermoplastic film is formed of one of polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, acrylonitule butadiene styrene copolymer, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethylmethacrylate, methacrylate styrene copolymer, acetylcellulose, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylidene chloride, and polycarbonate.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein
the device layer is provided to two regions of the first thermoplastic film, each of the two regions corresponding to one of two adjacent faces of the forming mold.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein
the device layer is provided to one region of the first thermoplastic film, the one region corresponding to two adjacent faces of the forming mold.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein
the device layer is provided to a region of the first thermoplastic film, the region corresponding to an edge of the forming mold.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein
the device layer is provided to a region of the first thermoplastic film, the region corresponding to a corner of the forming mold.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein
the device layer is a liquid crystal display panel.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein
the device layer is an organic electroluminescence (EL) display panel.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein
the device layer is a touch panel.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein
the device layer is a light-emitting diode (LED).
14. A display apparatus prepared based on the method of claim 1.
15. A film device comprising:
a first thermoplastic film; and
a device layer which is a multi-layer product provided on the first thermoplastic film and including a polyimide film and a device body, wherein
the device layer is arranged such that the polyimide film is sandwiched between the device body and the first thermoplastic film.