Electro-optic system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An electro-optic mixer for mixing at least two electrical signals to obtain voltage product terms of said electrical signals comprising:
- a) an electro-optic intensity modulator in which the optical output is light transmission which varies non-linearly in accordance with the voltages of the electrical signals applied to it;
b) a source of light coupled to said modulator;
c) electrode means for applying electrical signals to said modulator;
d) bias means for setting the operating point of said modulator where the light transmission versus electrical signal voltage transfer function is comprised of even-order non-linearities; and
e) an optical detector for receiving the optical output of the modulator to provide an electrical output signal containing the desired product terms.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electro-optic system for mixing and/or transmitting electrical signals using an optical carrier is described in which the electrical signals are applied to an electro-optic intensity modulator with a nonlinear transfer function, preferably of the Mach-Zehnder interferometric type biased at the transmission null point. The modulator output optical signal is transmitted to a receiver where it is detected and voltage products of the applied electrical signals are recovered.
63 Citations
41 Claims
-
1. An electro-optic mixer for mixing at least two electrical signals to obtain voltage product terms of said electrical signals comprising:
-
a) an electro-optic intensity modulator in which the optical output is light transmission which varies non-linearly in accordance with the voltages of the electrical signals applied to it; b) a source of light coupled to said modulator; c) electrode means for applying electrical signals to said modulator; d) bias means for setting the operating point of said modulator where the light transmission versus electrical signal voltage transfer function is comprised of even-order non-linearities; and e) an optical detector for receiving the optical output of the modulator to provide an electrical output signal containing the desired product terms. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. An electro-optic mixer for mixing n electrical signals together to obtain voltage product terms of said signals comprising:
-
a) n electro-optic intensity modulators connected in series, including a first modulator and a last modulator in said series, with the light output of a first modulator coupled to the input of the next modulator until the last modulator is reached, each such modulator biased at an operating point which produces a linear signal response; electrode means for applying the signals to be mixed separately to a respective one of the n modulators. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. An electro-optic mixer for mixing at least two applied electrical signals comprising:
-
a) an electro-optic light intensity modulator having an input and an output port, a non-linear varying optical transmission versus applied voltage transfer characteristic curve; and (i) electrode means for applying one or more such electrical signals to said modulator, and (ii) bias means for biasing said modulator to operate about a point on said curve having even-order nonlinearities and a corresponding transmission minimum; and b) a source of constant optical power coupled to said input port. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
-
- 26. An electro-optic mixer in which electrical signals to be mixed are applied to an electro-optic intensity modulator, with said modulator biased to operate about a symmetric transmission null point such that the optical transmission of the modulator varies as a function of the applied voltages and detector means for detecting the optical transmission and generating an electrical output signal corresponding to the product of the mixed electrical signals.
-
33. A method of mixing at least two electrical signals together to obtain voltage product terms of said electrical signals comprising:
-
a) coupling the signals to an electro-optic modulator having an input port and an output port and a non-linearly varying optical power transmission characteristic which varies in accordance with the voltages of the electrical signals applied to it and; b) biasing said modulator to operate about a transmission minimum point; and c) coupling optical power from an optical source to the input port; and d) wherein the output of the modulator is an optical signal which is detected by an optical detector and converted to an electrical output signal containing the voltage product terms. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
-
-
36. An electro-optic mixer for mixing at least two electrical signals together to obtain voltage product terms of said signals comprising:
-
a) an electro-optic interferometric modulator having an input port and an output port and three electrodes electrically isolated from each other, said modulator exhibiting a non-linearly varying optical power transmission versus applied electrode voltages transfer characteristic curve; (i) one such electrode for applying a first such signal to said modulator, (ii) another such electrode for applying a second of such signals to said modulator, and (iii) the third such electrode for applying a biasing signal to said modulator so as to bias said modulator to operate about an operating point of said curve wherein the light transmission versus electrical signal voltage transfer function is comprised of even-order non-linearities; and b) a source of optical power for applying constant optical power to said input port. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
-
Specification