Optical transmission system
US4406003A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 20, 1981 |
| Grant date | Sep 20, 1983 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 20, 2001 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04J14/06
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Short electromagnetic pulses, preferably optical pulses each of a different wavelength and/or polarization, are injected into a channel containing a medium with many energy levels in which the level populations are specified and in which the transitions between levels are in resonant relationship (resonant or nearly so) with the carrier frequencies of the pulses. When the initial pulse intensities are above a level related to characteristics of the medium, particularly when the areas of the pulses have certain relationships with each other, coincident pulses co-propagate simultaneously, substantially losslessly, and in some cases at velocities well below normal light speed in the medium, but still well above electron drift speeds in conductors, for example. The pulses may be very short in duration. Inasmuch as the co-propagation through the channel is determined by the pulse areas and the near-coincidence of the pulses, coincident relationships between successive pulses may be encoded with information to be transmitted through the channel. The system may be used for carrying out logic and switching functions, in nuclear applications as a fast coincidence counter, and in laser appli…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.