US Patent 8004749 Pseudo common-path DPSK demodulator

A rhomb beam splitter, rather than a conventional cube, is used in combination with a mirror reflecting both the reflected and transmitted beams to obtain a delay-line interferometer demodulator with a substantially common path. This significantly reduces the sensitivity of the device to environmental changes and also greatly simplifies the manufacture process. A polarization-insensitive coating or a wave plate, a thermal phase tuner with a micro-heater, and two compensator plates are used in the paths of the beams to balance the optical path lengths and to compensate for polarization and environmental effects.