Intrusive Passive Optical Tapping Device

Passive optical tapping can be implemented by stacking multiple layers of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which is used as planar waveguides for the transmission and capturing of light. Once the main waveguide is installed in the communications system, each additional stacked waveguide represents an optical sniffer where it is possible to intercept the data from an input optical fibre, allowing the information to also flow to the output fibre unnoticeably from the point of view of the transmitter. The waveguides can be stacked or removed, making it a dynamic device that overcomes the limitations of previous designs, and the optical sniffer shows fixed implementation. In addition, it is demonstrated that PDMS is a versatile material that permits the control of the coupling of light among the waveguides, depending on its properties, and the thickness of each waveguide is also critical for the performance of the device. Furthermore, the experimental results are supported with a theoretical analysis that permits better understanding of the performance of the device, whose use can be extended to other applications, such as a passive optical hub or a signal combiner/splitter.