Patent · US Expired

Frequency modulation-based folding optical analog-to-digital converter

US6064325A · kind A · utility

6Cited by
4References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 11, 1998
Grant dateMay 16, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 11, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG02F7/00
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A frequency modulation-based optical analog-to-digital converter utilizes a downward-folding, successive approximation approach. A series of stages is utilized to generate bits in the digital signal. In each stage, complementary low and high bandpass filters collectively cover a bandpass frequency range from a low frequency to a high frequency. The high frequency filtered signal from the high bandpass filter is observed to obtain a bit in the digital word. By performing the folding operations in the frequency domain, the converter avoids the difficult task of optical power subtraction, relying instead on frequency down-conversions. The high frequency filtered signal passed by the high bandpass filter is then downconverted and added to the low pass filter signal to generate a modulated signal for the next stage.

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