Multipurpose component with integrated optics and distribution network with optical amplification

Claim 1

An integrated optical multipurpose component comprising: a substrate made of a double refracting material having an ordinary axis and an extraordinary axis perpendicular to each other, said substrate comprising a first face and a second opposite and parallel face which are perpendicular to said extraordinary axis, and a first and a second extremity; a double refracting optical light microguide formed in said first face of said substrate and orientated perpendicularly to said ordinary axis and extending from said first extremity to said second extremity so that a light wave extending into the guide is split up into two waves having polarizations perpendicular to each other and being orientated respectively along said extraordinary and ordinary axes, said microguide having a first and a second end respectively disposed at said first and second extremity so that the propagation of said light wave in the microguide between said first and second end introduces a delay between said two waves; means for applying an electric field perpendicular to said first face of the substrate and uniformly along the optical light microguide for modifying said delay; a first rectilinear polarizer disposed at said first extremity and having a determined polarization direction; a second rectilinear polarizer disposed at said second extremity and exhibiting a polarization direction parallel to the polarization direction of said first rectilinear polarizer; and focussing means disposed at said first and second extremities for focussing said light wave respectively from said first polarizer into said first end and from said second end into said second polarizer.