Optical Assembly Delay Line Phase Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing optical signal processing techniques face challenges in maintaining phase stability when interfering light waves from different sources or with lost coherence, particularly due to the need for lengthy delay lines which can introduce instability and require expensive, time-consuming electronic signal processing.
Innovation Solution
An optical assembly with a delay line configured for opposite directional passage of light signals through a common optical waveguide, ensuring identical delay lengths and canceling out external influences, combined with an electronic signal processing unit to adjust phase, amplitude, and polarization, allowing for stable interferometric processing even with long delay lines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of moving object
If a delay line is used to synchronize light waves from different sources, then the running time of light waves can be prolonged, but phase stability deteriorates due to external influences on long delay lines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines both light waves to be processed and the reference wave through a common delay line, so that external influences (temperature, mechanical loads) affect both paths equally. This merging of paths through the same delay line causes external phase changes to cancel out when the waves are recombined, maintaining phase stability even with long delay lines.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates equipotential conditions by ensuring that both the signal path and reference path experience identical environmental conditions through the common delay line. By making both paths subject to the same external influences, the system achieves phase stability despite long propagation times, as the differential phase shift due to external factors becomes zero.
2Ease of operation
If electronic signal processing is used to regulate phase, amplitude and polarization, then interferometric signal processing can be enabled, but processing speed is slower than light wave propagation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary detection of the reference wave's properties (phase, amplitude, polarization) before the main signal processing. This feed-forward approach allows the system to pre-calculate required adjustments, reducing the critical processing time for the main signal path and enabling faster overall operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical phase adjustment mechanisms with electro-optical actuating units that can be controlled electronically. This substitution enables faster and more precise regulation of phase, amplitude, and polarization parameters without the mechanical inertia and speed limitations of physical adjustment mechanisms.
3Duration of action of moving object
If delay lines of several meters are used, then running time can be extended, but external influences cause phase instability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the reference wave path with the signal path through a common delay line, ensuring both experience identical external influences. By combining these paths and subsequently recombining the waves, external phase disturbances cancel out, allowing the use of long delay lines without sacrificing phase stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful effect of external influences on long delay lines into a beneficial cancellation effect. By designing the system so that both signal and reference waves traverse the same delay line, the external phase perturbations affect both equally and cancel out during recombination, transforming what would be a source of instability into a stability-enhancing feature.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration maintains phase stability and enables efficient interferometric signal processing with minimal delay effects, ensuring precise timing for high-rate data signals, even when light waves have different origins or have lost coherence, and allows for adaptable delay lengths to match electronic processing times.
Implementation Method 1
a delay line for generating a delay of the running time of the first part of the first light signal and of the first part of the second light signal up to the superposing unit, wherein the delay line is configured and arranged in such a way that the first part of the first light signal and the first part of the second light signal pass through the delay line in opposite directions
Implementation Method 2
a first beam splitter for splitting the first light signal into a first part and a second part; a second beam splitter for splitting the second light signal into a first part and a second part
Implementation Method 3
a superposing unit (in particular in the form of an interferometer unit) for superposing the first part of the first light signal with the first part of the second light signal
Implementation Method 4
a detector for detecting the second part of the first light signal and the second part of the second light signal, wherein the detector is configured to generate at least one electrical signal dependent on the detected second parts of the first and second light signals
Implementation Method 5
at least one (in particular electrooptical) actuating unit to which the control signal generated by the electronic signal processing unit can be fed and which is configured to change the phase and/or the amplitude and/or the polarization of the first part of the first light signal and/or the second part of the second light signal
Data Source
AI summary
An optical assembly for optical signal processing including a first input for coupling in a first light signal; a second input for coupling in a second light signal; a first beam splitter for splitting the first light signal into a first part and a second part; a second beam splitter for splitting the second light signal into a first part and a second part; a superposing unit; a detector; an electronic signal processing unit; at least one actuating unit; and a delay line for generating a delay of the running time of the first part of the first light signal and of the first part of the second light signal up to the superposing unit. The delay line is configured such that the first part of the first light signal and the first part of the second light signal pass through the delay line in opposite directions.