Patent attributes
A chromatic dispersion generating apparatus of the present invention comprises a VIPA plate capable of emitting an incident light to different directions according to wavelengths, a three-dimensional mirror reflecting the light of respective wavelengths emitted from the VIPA plate at a previously set position to return them to the VIPA plate, and a control section that controls a position of the three-dimensional mirror and the temperature of the VIPA plate. The control section computes a target position of the three-dimensional mirror and the target temperature of the VIPA plate, which correspond to an arbitrary wavelength and a chromatic dispersion value, based on data relating to positions of the three-dimensional mirror corresponding to a plurality of chromatic dispersion values of a specific wavelength and a chromatic dispersion slope value, and data relating to the temperatures of the VIPA plate corresponding to a plurality of dispersion values for respective wavelengths on a predetermined wavelength grid and a wavelength temperature coefficient, which are stored in a storage circuit, to optimize the computed target position and the computed target temperature. As a result, it becomes possible to generate the chromatic dispersion with high accuracy at an arbitrary wavelength.