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:
Aug. 20, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 29, 1995
Seiji Nogiwa, Tokyo, JP;
Ando Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In an optical sweep signal generator, output beams of a variable-wavelength laser are supplied to an optical branch in which they are divided into first and second beams. The first beam, branched by the optical branch, is delayed by an optical delay line, from which a delayed beam is outputted. An optical mixer mixes the second beam together with the delayed beam so as to produce a mixed beam, which is then supplied to an optical detector. The optical detector performs heterodyne wave detection on the mixed beam. Then, a frequency analyzer performs a frequency analysis on result of the heterodyne wave detection so as to detect heterodyne beat frequency. The variable-wavelength laser is controlled in such a way that the heterodyne beat frequency detected does not vary with respect to time in a selected period of time. Thus, the sweep optical frequency to be realized is varied linearly with respect to time.