Optical mixing device
US5475776A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 19, 1993 |
| Grant date | Dec 12, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 19, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01P1/16
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An optical mixing device (10) incorporates a rectangular multimode waveguide (14), with an input region (22) and an output region (24), two square section input waveguides (26, 28), and a detector (34). The input waveguides (26, 28) are arranged to provide first and second input radiation beams respectively to the input region (22), each beam being in the form of a square waveguide fundamental mode beam. Modal dispersion along the multimode waveguide (14) produces a single maximum incident on the detector (34) when the input beams are in phase with one another, and two maxima of like magnitude located on opposite sides of the detector (34) when the input beams are in antiphase. Intermediate these two situations three maxima are produced, the amplitudes depending on phase difference. The first and second input beams may be of like frequency producing a time-independent device output. The input beams may alternatively have different frequencies. For instance the first input beam may be a local oscillator signal produced by a coherent source of stable frequency, and the second input beam may be a Doppler shifted version of an output signal from that source. The device output then prov…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.