The Boeing Company

University of Washington

William R Babbitt

Raymond G Beausoleil

Thomas W Mossberg

John A Bell

David A Leep

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for spatially routing an optical pulse (data pulse) of an electromagnetic radiation and containing a specific address temporal profile and possibly additional data. Routing generally involves a unit of active material that is programmed using one or more input beams or pulses of the electromagnetic radiation providing address (i.e., waveform-discriminating) and directional (i.e., pulse routing) information to the active material. During programming, a spatial-spectral grating is created by optical interference on or in the active material of the input pulses encoding the address and directional information pertinent to the data pulse. Whenever a data pulse, encoding a temporal profile that is substantially similar to the temporal profile of the address, interacts with the grating in or on the active material, the active material produces an output pulse that propagates in a direction, relative to the material, corresponding to the directional information provided during programming.

Apparatus and methods for routing of optical beams via time-domain

An electromagnetic signal processor which uses an inhomogeneously broadened absorbing material to store data for long periods of time and which is able to process an uninterrupted signal. A spectral interference pattern created by the interference of at least two input pulses of electromagnetic radiation is stored in the absorbing medium. The pattern is fixed in the medium to allow for uninterrupted processing of signal data. The fixed pattern employed in such a processor could be reprogrammed by either reversing the gating process used to program the absorbing medium or by spatially directing the electromagnetic beams to a different portion of the material.

Optical signal processor for processing continuous signal data

An optical sensor that uses laser radar techniques to determine the value of a mesaurand. The sensor comprises an encoder, an optical source, sensing means and detection means. The encoder has a plurality of tracks, each track including means for receiving an optical signal and for delaying the optical signal by an encoder delay that is a function of the measurand value. The optical source produces a chirped optical interrogation signal that is received by the sensing means and divided into N channel signals, such that each channel signal strikes one of the tracks. The sensing means delays each channel signal by a unique channel delay. The detection means receives the channel signals after they have struck the tracks, and mixes the channel signals with a facsimile of the interrogation signal, to produce a demodulated signal. The detection means analyzes the frequency components of the demodulated signal, to determine the encoder delays and thereby the value of the measured. The encoder preferably comprises a transparent moveable substrate having a variable pattern of reflecting elements on one side, and a uniform reflective coating on the opposite side.

Optical position sensor employing encoder delay

A system for producing two or more laser beams having stable frequency differences between them. The system includes two or more lasers that produce the respective laser beams, an optical resonator, and coupling optics for coupling portions of each laser beam into the resonator. The resonator produces feedback beams that are returned to the respective lasers to provide optical feedback. The feedback causes each laser to lock to a resonant mode of the resonator, to thereby stabilize the frequency difference between the lasers. The linewidth of each laser is also reduced.

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

William R Babbitt