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:
Jul. 20, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 28, 2003
Robert Morris Montgomery, Indialantic, FL (US);
Pat O. Bentley, West Melbourne, FL (US);
Peter Alan Wasilousky, Indialantic, FL (US);
Harris Corporation, Melbourne, FL (US);
Abstract
A multi-channel acousto-optic modulator contains an integrated structure for providing active compensation for transient thermal effects. A plurality of electro-thermal elements in the form of resistive strips are interleaved with acoustic wave launching transducers, to which signals are applied for modulating respective acoustic waves launched into an acousto-optic medium. The resistive strips receive electrical signals that controllably introduce respective thermal energy components into the acousto-optic medium adjacent to the signal launch transducers, in a manner that causes the overall spatial distribution of thermal energy in the acousto-optic medium to have a prescribed characteristic. By establishing an thermal gradient characteristic across all the channels of the RF signal processor, and compensating each channel on an individual basis, the invention effectively compensates for time-dependent variations in heating, resulting in a substantially level thermal behavior.