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:
Feb. 09, 1999
Filed:
May. 30, 1997
Thomas L Koch, Holmdel, NJ (US);
Donald R Scifres, San Jose, CA (US);
SDL, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
An improved interferometric modulator permits the reduction in size of optical transmitters. In one embodiment, the optical modulator includes amplifiers or attentuators as phase modulators. In another embodiment, two outputs from a combiner are fed to the modulator, thus avoiding the requirement for an input splitter in the modulator. Light passing through the modulator may be both phase-shifted and amplified or attenuated by optical regulator sections located in the modulator. In another embodiment, the transmitter is included as a multiple-wavelength optical communications source, where individual current sources are provided to actuate a number of light sources feeding into the combiner, a processor controls the operation of each light source, and a modulator driver receives a data input signal to be encoded on the output of the source. By combining a number of modulators, a gray scale modulator may be fabricated for producing a gray scale output, rather than a conventional binary level output.