US 4,364,014 A · Optical modulator

Abstract

An optical modulator is provided in which one light beam is modulated by another. The modulator of the invention includes a saturable medium which is capable of amplifying an optical signal by stimulated emission of radiation. Two optical signals, in the form of two light beams are caused to pass through the medium and to emerge from the medium in amplified form. The beams, however, are caused to have different gains in the medium either by causing the beams to have different path lengths, or by other means. The beams are intercoupled by cross-saturation of the medium. Thus, any variations in the intensity of one of the beams causes a change in intensity in the other beam. Since one of the beams has a greater gain than the other, a small change in the intensity of one of the beams will produce a large change in the intensity of the other beam, thus producing in many aspects the optical analog of the transistor. The modulator of the invention shall be referred to herein as an "opto-optic" modulator.

Claims8

Dependent claims

An optical modulator comprising:

a member including an optical gain-saturable medium capable of amplifying optical signals;
means introducing a first optical signal into the member for passage through the medium and to be amplified by the medium;
and means introducing a second optical signal into the member for passage through the medium to be amplified by the medium with a gain greater than the gain of said first signal, the first and second signals being intercoupled by cross-saturation of the medium such that variations in the intensity of the first optical signal changes the gain in the medium by cross-saturation and thereby produces greater variations in the intensity of the second signal as the first signal passes through the medium.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Optical modulator

Life of this patent

Optical modulator

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims8