Delayed pulse saturable absorber-based downward-folding optical A/D
US6292119A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 30, 1999 |
| Grant date | Sep 18, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 30, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02F7/00
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An optical analog-to-digital converter (10) that makes use of a downward-folding successive approximation conversion scheme that employs subtraction of optical signals. A pulsed optical signal (20) to be converted is applied as an input to each of a plurality of converter channels (12, 14, 16, 18), where each channel (12, 14, 16, 18) outputs one of the bits of the digital output of the converter (10). The input signal (20) to each channel (12, 14, 16, 18) is sent to a thresholding device (24, 40, 60, 80) that determines whether the intensity of the signal is greater than or less than a predetermined threshold value. The first channel thresholding device (24) compares the input signal (20) to a threshold value that is one-half of a known maximum intensity. Subsequent channel thresholding devices (40, 60, 80) compare the input signal to a threshold value that is one-half of the intensity used in the previous channel in a downward-folding scheme. If the intensity of the input signal (20) is greater than the threshold value in a particular channel (12, 14, 16, 18), then that threshold value is subtracted from the input signal (20) in each of the successive channels before being applied…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.