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US 4,064,434 AGranted
Retro-reflection communication system
AssigneeRCA Corporation
InventorArmand Waksberg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A communication system uses a laser beam directed along a path and a retrodirective reflector to return the beam along the same path. The front face of the retrodirective reflector is covered by a layer of an electro-optic material which, in response to an electric field produced by a vidicon, modifies the reflectivity of the reflector. The laser beam, when passing through the electro-optic material, is modulated by the output of the vidicon, and the modulated beam is returned along the given path to a suitable receiving means.
Claims19
A communication system comprising:
- a laser source having an optical system adapted to produce a laser beam along a path,
- a transmitter station comprising a retrodirective reflector for receiving the laser beam from the said source and reflectively returning it along the same path, and, a modulating means for impressing a modulation unto said beam as it is being returned, said modulating means comprising a mechanically stable layer of an electro-optic material mounted on a surface of the said retro-directive reflector to receive and directly act on said beam, said material being adapted to modify its operating characteristics to modulate said beam in response to a modulating signal applied to said material,
- a receiver station for receiving the returned laser beam impressed with the said modulation,
- whereby the beam from said laser source is directed towards the retro-directive reflector, is modulated by the said electro-optic material according to the modulating signal applied to said material and returned through the same path by the said retro-directive reflector and received by said receiver station.
1 more element
A retro-modulator comprising:
- a. a retrodirective reflector adapted to receive from a given direction a laser beam and return it in the same direction;
- b. a mechanically stable layer of an electro-optic material mounted on a surface of said retrodirective reflector to receive and directly act on said beam, said material being adapted to modify its operating characteristics to modulate said beam in response to a modulating signal applied to said material;
- c. a pair of electrodes connected to said layer for applying said modulating signal to said layer, whereby the laser beam received by said reflector is modulated by said electro-optic material according to the modulating signal applied to said material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.