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:
Mar. 02, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 24, 2002
Kevin K. Kellar, Bloomfield, IN (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A method of photonic analog-to-digital conversion including the steps of using an analog signal to modulate a laser, splitting the modulated optical output into 2 paths, attenuating the different paths along a gradient, then splitting each path again and recombining with an adjacent path in such a way that only one path has significant energy. An implementation architecture is also provided which includes a laser source, a modulator for modulating the laser source in accordance with an analog input signal, a first splitter section for splitting the modulated optical output into 2 paths, and for attenuating the different paths along a gradient, an interferometer section for splitting each path again and for recombining the signals in such a way that only one path has significant energy, and a decoder section for outputting a digital word corresponding to the analog input signal.