Patent · US Expired

Optical comb generator using optical white noise source

US5663822A · kind A · utility

23Cited by
13References
10Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJun 14, 1995
Grant dateSep 2, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 14, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04J14/02
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method for multi-wavelength modulated optical communication uses the same optical fiber without the use of multiple tuned lasers. A transmitter includes an optical comb generator and a digital modulator. The optical comb generator generates a broad spectrum of wavelengths using a white noise generator. A Fabry-Perot cavity filters the wavelengths to form a set of equally spaced resonances lambda-1 . . . lambda-n. The comb generator is locked to a particular wave length by comparing each carrier or the composite mean of the carriers to an optical reference. An error signal is generated and fed back into the into comb generator. The resonances are split into n-channels using a tree splitter. Each channel is modulated in the digital modulator. The channels are summed as an optical signal and amplified to ensure proper power levels prior to being fed to an optical fiber.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.