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. 12, 1996
Filed:
Dec. 27, 1994
Applicant:
Inventors:
Paul F McManamon, Dayton, OH (US);
Gary D Sharp, Boulder, CO (US);
Michael S Salisbury, Dayton, OH (US);
Steven A Serati, Golden, CO (US);
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01C / ; G01P / ; H04B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
356-515 ; 356 285 ; 359122 ; 359156 ; 359192 ;
Abstract
To greatly increase the sensitivity of a Heterodyne Ladar System, the receiver incorporates an optical preamplifier to amplify the ladar return signal prior to detection. This results in an increase in return signal power on the order of 25 dB. Spontaneous emission noise added by the fiber amplifier counters this gain in a normal scheme. The proposed receiver, however, incorporates a Polarization Optical Mixer to perform balanced mixing, thus rejecting added spontaneous emission beat noise terms and resulting in a large increase in system sensitivity.