The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 09, 1980
Filed:
Aug. 28, 1978
Peter W Smith, Colts Neck, NJ (US);
Edward H Turner, Rumson, NJ (US);
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, Murray Hill, NY (US);
Abstract
An optical apparatus which provides a nonlinear characteristic between input and output amplitude levels is disclosed. A single frequency linearly polarized single mode light beam having amplitude variations that are to be acted upon is coupled to a Fabry-Perot interferometer (10) having two mirrored ends (11 and 12) and substantially filled with an electrooptic material (13) having electrodes (14 and 15). A beam splitter (21) is positioned and oriented so as to deflect optical energy that is reflected from the cavity into a photodetector circuit (22 and 23) whose output voltage is applied to the electrodes of the electrooptic material. Adjustment of the cavity length provides a wide range of nonlinear characteristics including some that permit the apparatus to be used as a bistable memory element and others which permit the device to be used as a clipper for all input power levels below a predetermined threshold level.