Photonic constant envelope RF modulator
OwnerWilliam W. Anderson, Denis Ramptoninventors
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Abstract
A system for performing photonic constant envelope modulation utilizing a frequency shifted optical signal and a pure phase modulated optical signal. A coupler superposes the pure phase modulated signal and the frequency shifted optical signal. A set of detectors generates a photocurrent signal based on the superposed signals. A splitter generates a first optical signal and a second optical signal, wherein each represents nominally one half of an input optical signal. A filter, coupled to the set of detectors, is operable to remove a DC current from the photocurrent signal.
Claims21
A method for performing photonic constant envelope modulation (CPM), the method comprising:
- generating, from an input coherent optical signal, a frequency shifted optical signal;
- A generating, from the input coherent optical signal, a pure phase modulated optical signal, the phase modulation corresponding to an information data stream;
- and
- generating a pure phase modulated photocurrent signal, the phase modulation corresponding to the information data stream;
- wherein introducing the CPM onto the optical signal increases the upper limit on data rates and throughput capacity.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the carrier signal is one of:
- IF and RF frequency.
A system for performing photonic constant envelope modulation, the system comprising:
- a first modulator operable to generate a frequency shifted optical signal;
- a second modulator operable to generate a pure phase modulated optical signal;
- and
- a set of detectors operable to generate a pure phase modulated photocurrent signal corresponding to an information data stream;
- wherein the photonic implementation of CPM allows modulation in high data rate applications by increasing the upper limit on data rates and throughput capacity by performing the modulation functions on optical frequency signals..
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.