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US 5,479,291 AGranted
Non-linear optical interferometer with saturated amplifier
AssigneeBritish Telecommunications plc
InventorsKevin Smith, Elaine J. Greer
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AssigneeBritish Telecommunications plc
InventorsKevin Smith, Elaine J. Greer
Estimating the term…
An optical transmission system including an interferometer and a source of optical signals. The interferometer comprises a four-pod optical coupler having first and second input ports and first and second output pods, a silica optical fiber coupling the first and second output pods which exhibits the Kerr optical non-linearity, and an erbium fiber optical amplifier situated asymmetrically between the output ports. The source of optical signals is coupled to the first input port of the interferometer. The system is operated in a regime in which the optical signals saturate the amplifier thereby suppressing any oscillatory output, and their power is sufficient to switch an input signal coupled to the first input pod to the second input pod. This provides pulse shaping and amplification characteristics which are relatively insensitive to the input power of the optical signals from the optical source.
An optical transmission system comprising an interferometer and a source of optical signals, the interferometer comprising a four-port optical coupler having first and second input pods and first and second output pods, an optical coupling means coupling the first and second output pods and including an optical non-linearity, and an optical fibre amplifier, the source of optical signals being coupled to the first input pod of the interferometer, wherein the system is such that the optical signals saturate the optical fibre amplifier thereby suppressing any oscillatory output, and such that amplifier saturation occurs at approximately the power of the optical signals that is sufficient to switch an input signal coupled to the first input pod to the second input pod.
A method of using an interferometer which comprises a four-port optical coupler having first and second input pods and first and second output ports, an optical coupling means coupling the first and second output ports and including an optical non-linearity, and an optical fibre amplifier, the method comprising coupling a source of optical signals to the first input pod of the interferometer in such a manner that the optical signals saturate the optical fibre amplifier thereby suppressing any oscillatory output, and such that amplifier saturation occurs at approximately the power of the optical signals that is sufficient to switch an input signal coupled to the first input port to the second input port.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.