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:
Nov. 01, 1988
Filed:
Feb. 18, 1966
William P Risk, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Gordon S Kino, Stanford, CA (US);
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Stanford, CA (US);
Abstract
An acousto-optic frequency shifter having a long interaction region is used as an optical analyzer. A variable frequency signal generator is used to drive an acoustic transducer to launch an acoustic wave in contact with an optical fiber. The acoustic frequency is varied over a known range to generate acoustic waves having known wavelengths. An optical signal having an unknown optical wavelength is introduced into one end of the optical fiber in a first polarization mode. The effect of the acoustic wave on the optical signal is to cause coupling of the optical signal from the first polarization mode to a second orthogonal polarization mode. The amount of the coupling is dependent upon the phase-matching between the acoustic wavelength and the optical beat length. The coupling between the polarization modes is maximum when the acoustic wavelength is equal to the optical beat length. The intensity of the optical signal coupled to the second polarization mode can be measured to determine the optical wavelength corresponding to the acoustic wavelength when the maximum intensity occurs.