Injection-seeding of a multi-tone photonic oscillator
First Claim
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1. A multi-tone photonic oscillator comprising:
- (a) a laser;
(b) an optical modulator coupled to the laser;
(c) a delay line and a photodetector coupled to the optical modulator for generating a delayed electrical signal representation of a signal output from the optical modulator, the delay line and the photodetector forming a portion of a feedback loop; and
(d) an RF injection port for momentarily injecting RF energy into said feedback loop, the RF energy being frequency swept at least until multi-tone oscillation is initiated by the oscillator, the multi-tone oscillation having tones whose frequency intervals are a function of the delay imposed by the delay line.
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Abstract
A multi-tone photonic oscillator comprises a laser; an optical modulator coupled to the laser; and a delay line and a photodetector coupled to the optical modulator for generating a delayed electrical signal representation of the output of the optical modulator; wherein the optical modulator being responsible for the delayed electrical signal for generating multiple tones where the frequency intervals of the tones is a function of the amount of delay imposed by the delay line.
69 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A multi-tone photonic oscillator comprising:
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(a) a laser;
(b) an optical modulator coupled to the laser;
(c) a delay line and a photodetector coupled to the optical modulator for generating a delayed electrical signal representation of a signal output from the optical modulator, the delay line and the photodetector forming a portion of a feedback loop; and
(d) an RF injection port for momentarily injecting RF energy into said feedback loop, the RF energy being frequency swept at least until multi-tone oscillation is initiated by the oscillator, the multi-tone oscillation having tones whose frequency intervals are a function of the delay imposed by the delay line. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of generating a RF lightwave having multiple tones, the method comprising:
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circulating a laser injected optical signal in a closed loop, the loop including an optical modulator coupled to a laser, a delay line coupled to the optical modulator for generating a delayed electrical signal representation of a signal output by the optical modulator; and
triggering multiple tone oscillations in said loop by momentarily injecting a RF signal into said loop, the RF signal being frequency spanned until multi-tone oscillations are initiated, after which the RF signal is disconnected from said loop while said multi-tone oscillations continue. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of generating a multitone RF lightwave having multiple tones, the method comprising:
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circulating a laser injected optical signal in a closed loop having a phase delay, the loop including an optical modulator coupled to a laser, a delay line coupled to the optical modulator for generating a delayed electrical signal representation of a signal output by the optical modulator, a single tone being initially generated in said loop; and
triggering multi-tone oscillations in said loop by adjusting the phase delay of said loop when said single tone oscillation otherwise occurs in said loop. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification