Though the market of optical passive components has been impacted by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is recovering quickly and is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 15.7 percent from 2022 to 2031.

Optical passive components are quickly growing in demand because of the improvements they have brought in the performance and efficiency of fiber optics systems and fiber networks. Since optical passive components also play a crucial role in FTTX applications for branching of optical signals, multiplexing and demultiplexing optical signals, and for optical surveillance of video signals, their demand is getting even bigger.

Passive optical components are the ones that don’t need electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion for operation. These components include not just optical connectors and fixed optical attenuators but also more complicated optical devices.

Here, we are enlisting three of the most widely used optical passive components.

  1. Optical Coupler/Splitter

Optical fiber couplers or splitters are one of the most popular optical passive components as they help with wavelength multiplexing and demultiplexing of optical signals.

When these devices are used to combine the optical signals from different fibers, they are called optical couplers. On the other hand, when these devices are used to split or separate optical signals in order to send them to different fibers, they are called optical splitters.

Generally, there is no difference between an optical coupler and an optical splitter. The only difference lies in the function and which end of the component you use as input or output for your connection needs. Thus, you can call them interchangeably and use them according to your needs.

  1. Optical Filters

Another widely used passive optical component is an optical filter, which is also a wavelength multiplexing and demultiplexing device but is equipped with a dielectric thin film. Due to this dielectric thin film, you can add or drop any specific wavelength depending on your needs during fiber communication.

This dielectric thin film is a multilayered film and thus, has various refractive indices for different layers. This allows the film to enable specific wavelengths to reflect or transmit at the layer interfaces.

In simple words, an optical filter is used to filter out a particular wavelength among many wavelengths traveling across the fiber as per specific settings.

  1. Optical Connectors

Also called fiber optic connectors, optical connectors are used to create a temporary joint connection between two optical fibers, cables, or devices. In the market, you can find different types of optical connectors that are developed by many optical passive component manufacturers to meet diverse communication needs.

Some of the common examples of optical connectors are ST connectors, LC connectors, FC connectors, SC connectors, and MTRJ-style connectors.

DK Photonics is the leading optical passive component manufacturer based in China, offering an extensive range of quality optical passive components, such as in-line polarizers, PM isolators, PM circulators, optical couplers/splitters, optical filters, PM Fused WDM, pump combiners, fiber optical attenuators, pump laser protectors, high-power fiber laser components, and more.

For any information or to place a standard or custom order for passive optical components, please feel free to contact us.