Coupled and non-coupled opto-electronic oscillators with enhanced performance
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A device, comprising:
- a ring laser comprising an optical ring which comprises at least one optical gain medium operable to produce laser light;
an optical modulator coupled in the optical ring and operable to modulate the laser light in response to a control signal to produce a modulated laser beam;
an opto-electronic feedback loop comprising an optical portion operable to receive a portion of light from the ring laser, a photodetector operable to convert the received portion of light into a detector signal, and an electrical portion operable to produce the control signal from the detector signal; and
a dispersion compensation element coupled in the optical ring and operable to compensate for optical dispersion in the optical ring.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
This application describes coupled and non-coupled opto-electronic oscillators with enhanced performance. Coupled OEOs implement a dispersion compensation mechanism to reduce dispersion-induced optical loss, a polarization control mechanism to reduce polarization-dependent optical loss, or a combination of the dispersion compensation mechanism and the polarization control mechanism to enhance the oscillator performance.
-
Citations
17 Claims
-
1. A device, comprising:
-
a ring laser comprising an optical ring which comprises at least one optical gain medium operable to produce laser light; an optical modulator coupled in the optical ring and operable to modulate the laser light in response to a control signal to produce a modulated laser beam; an opto-electronic feedback loop comprising an optical portion operable to receive a portion of light from the ring laser, a photodetector operable to convert the received portion of light into a detector signal, and an electrical portion operable to produce the control signal from the detector signal; and a dispersion compensation element coupled in the optical ring and operable to compensate for optical dispersion in the optical ring. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A method, comprising:
-
selecting a length of an optical ring that generates laser light in a coupled opto-electronic oscillator (COEO) which further comprises an opto-electronic feedback loop coupled to the ring to produce a desired separation between a carrier frequency generated by the COEO and a first spurious mode generated by the COEO; and using a dispersion compensation element in the ring to negate optical dispersion in the ring to reduce phase noise of the COEO below an acceptable level. - View Dependent Claims (13)
-
-
14. A device, comprising:
-
an optical loop which comprises at least one optical gain medium operable to produce laser light; an optical modulator coupled in the optical loop and operable to modulate the laser light in response to a control signal to produce modulated laser light; an opto-electronic feedback loop comprising an optical portion operable to receive a portion of the modulated laser light from the optical loop, a photodetector operable to convert the received portion into a detector signal, and an electrical portion operable to produce the control signal from the detector signal; an optical polarization beam splitter coupled in the optical loop to direct light received from the optical loop into a first light beam; a 45-degree Faraday rotator to receive and transmits the first light beam; a reflective unit to reflect the first light beam transmitted through the Faraday rotator back to the optical polarization beam splitter by transmitting through the Faraday rotator for a second time; and a fiber delay line between an optical path between the optical polarization beam splitter and the reflective unit to transport light, wherein the optical polarization beam splitter is coupled to the optical loop to direct light reflected back from the reflective unit into the optical loop. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
-
-
17. A device, comprising:
-
a laser to produce CW laser light; an optical modulator to modulate the CW laser light to produce modulated laser light in response to an electrical control signal; an optical splitter to receive at least a portion of the modulated laser light and to split the received portion into a first beam and a second beam; a first optical delay path to receive the first beam; a second optical delay path to receive the second beam, wherein the first and second optical paths have different optical delays; a photodetector coupled to receive the first and second beams, at orthogonal polarizations, from the first and second optical delay paths to produce a detector signal; and an electrical section operable to receive and process the detector signal to produce the electrical control signal, wherein the electrical section, the optical modulator, the optical splitter, the first and second optical delay paths, and the photodetector form a part of a closed opto-electronic feedback loop that is operable to have a loop gain greater than the loop loss and to generate an oscillation at a modulation frequency of the optical modulator.
-
Specification