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AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorWilliam B. Bridges
Estimating the term…
Improvements in an electro-optic modulator with a segmented optical transmission network with a series of discrete electrodes for successive segments of the network include drivers at the output of a corporate feed into the modular transmission line. The penalty of {square root}N suffered from division of the input power is thus avoided. Respective modulating signals are supplied to the electrodes along the transmission lines whose lengths differ from each other, so that modulating signals arrive at their respective electrodes in synchronism with the propagation of an optical signal through the optical transmission network. The differential loss in the different feed line lengths in the corporate feed are compensated by adjusting the gains of the amplifiers or by incorporating additional attenuation in the legs of the corporate feed.
An improvement in an electro-optic modulator, which is comprised of a first substrate, an optical transmission network on the first substrate, a plurality of separate segmented electrodes distributed in a cascade arrangement on the first substrate in the direction of optical transmission for modulating successive respective segments of the optical transmission network, a second substrate, and a plurality of separate modulating signal transmission lines disposed on the second substrate lateral to the optical transmission network on the first substrate for transmitting modulating signals to respective ones of the segmented electrodes to modulate an optical signal transmitted through the optical transmission network, the modulating transmission lines having respective input ends and individual lengths that are selected so that modulating signals applied to the input ends of the modulating transmission lines with a predetermined phase relationship reach their respective electrodes in synchronism with the propagation of an optical signal through the optical transmission network, the improvement comprising:
An improvement in a method of modulating an optical signal, comprising transmitting the optical signal through an optical transmission network that is disposed on a first substrate, applying respective separate electrical modulating signals to successive cascaded segments of the optical transmission network in the direction of optical transmission and in synchronism with the transmission of an optical signal through the network, and supplying the electrical modulating signals to the segments along a plane lateral to the optical transmission network, wherein the electrical modulating signals are transmitted along a second substrate lateral to first substrate before being supplied to the optical transmission network along the first substrate, the improvement comprising:
An improvement in a method of modulating an optical signal comprising transmitting the optical signal through an optical transmission network that is disposed on a first substrate, applying respective electrical modulating signals to successive segments of the optical transmission network in synchronism with the transmission of an optical signal through the network, and supplying the electrical modulating signals to the segments along a plane lateral to the optical transmission network, wherein the electrical modulating signals are transmitted along respective signal paths that are generally coplanar with the optical transmission network, the respective lengths of the paths being selected so that input modulating signals that have a predetermined phase relationship arrive at the optical transmission network in synchronism with the transmission of an optical signal through the network, the improvement comprising:
An electro-optic modulator comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.