Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for optical frequency demodulation of an optical signal using interferometry

US6271959A · kind A · utility

62Cited by
3References
52Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 23, 1999
Grant dateAug 7, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 23, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04B10/676
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention provides an improved optical frequency demodulation technique for extracting overhead information from an optical channel signal carrying both high bit rate payload and low rate overhead data. The invention makes use of asymmetrical Mach-Zehnder interferometry (AMZI) in an optical frequency demodulator to efficiently extract the overhead information from the optical channel signal by frequency discrimination without necessitating a complete demodulation of the optical channel signal. By comparison to existing demodulation schemes, the invention provides an all-optical low cost, high gain technique for recovering the overhead data which improves the payload signal-to-noise ratio and enhance performance.

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