Abstract:
Associative holography memory apparatus (10) which employs a hologram (12) and two phase conjugate mirrors (14, 16). The mirrors (14, 16) are arranged to form a conjugate resonator whereby the output image (44) from the apparatus tends to converge to that stored image most closely associated with an input image (32). Alternate embodiments are described which employ a multiple storage and erasure hologram (52), and which employ only a single phase conjugate mirror (14).
Abstract:
An electro-optical device (10) is used to alter characteristics of a light beam passing through it. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the device (10) is used as a phase stop having a dynamically variable aperture whose size is defined by the selected application of an electrical potential across one or more concentric, transparent ring-like electrodes (13, 14, 16 and 18). The electro-optical device (10) finds particular utility in a common-path interferometer (40) where fringe visibility is optimized by using suitable servo-electronics (56) to select an appropriate aperture size for the phase stop (10).
Abstract:
A system and method for encoding information onto an optical beam in which a photorefractive material (18) is used to modulate the beam. An alternating electric field is applied to the photorefractive material (18) and modulated so as to vary the material's index ellipsoid via the electro-optic effect and hence modulate an output beam (20A) in accordance with the information to be encoded. The invention has applications to both externally pumped and self-pumped phase conjugate mirrors, and to other optical systems. Various modulation techniques can be used, and the modulation can be isolated from noisy beams by applying the modulating electric field on a high frequency carrier.
Abstract:
A coherent input beam from a laser (82) is fed into a Brillouin-enhanced four wave mixer (88) which generates a phase conjugated seed beam in counterpropagation with the input beam. A Brillouin amplifier (86) is provided between the laser and four wave mixer to transfer energy from the input beam (Ep) to the seed beam (Ec) and thereby amplify the seed beam to produce a phase conjugated output beam with approximately 50 % of the energy of the input beam and narrow bandwidth which is free from random phase jumps associated with the acoustic noise generally required to initiate and sustain stimulated Brillouin scattering. The phase conjugated output beam can be modulated or steered in direction, as desired. Reference beams for the four wave mixer may be derived from the same laser source as the input beam and have energies one or more orders of magnitude smaller than the energy of the input beam.
Abstract:
A coherent input beam from a laser (82) is fed into a Brillouin-enhanced four wave mixer (88) which generates a phase conjugated seed beam in counterpropagation with the input beam. A Brillouin amplifier (86) is provided between the laser and four wave mixer to transfer energy from the input beam (Ep) to the seed beam (Ec) and thereby amplify the seed beam to produce a phase conjugated output beam with approximately 50 % of the energy of the input beam and narrow bandwidth which is free from random phase jumps associated with the acoustic noise generally required to initiate and sustain stimulated Brillouin scattering. The phase conjugated output beam can be modulated or steered in direction, as desired. Reference beams for the four wave mixer may be derived from the same laser source as the input beam and have energies one or more orders of magnitude smaller than the energy of the input beam.
Abstract:
An electro-optical device (10) is used to alter characteristics of a light beam passing through it. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the device (10) is used as a phase stop having a dynamically variable aperture whose size is defined by the selected application of an electrical potential across one or more concentric, transparent ring-like electrodes (13, 14, 16 and 18). The electro-optical device (10) finds particular utility in a common-path interferometer (40) where fringe visibility is optimized by using suitable servo-electronics (56) to select an appropriate aperture size for the phase stop (10).
Abstract:
A system and method for encoding information onto an optical beam in which a photorefractive material (18) is used to modulate the beam. An alternating electric field is applied to the photorefractive material (18) and modulated so as to vary the material's index ellipsoid via the electro-optic effect and hence modulate an output beam (20A) in accordance with the information to be encoded. The invention has applications to both externally pumped and self-pumped phase conjugate mirrors, and to other optical systems. Various modulation techniques can be used, and the modulation can be isolated from noisy beams by applying the modulating electric field on a high frequency carrier.
Abstract:
Un dispositif électro-optique (10) est utilisé pour modifier les caractéristiques d'un rayon de lumière y passant à travers. Dans un mode de réalisation préféré particulier, le dispositif (10) est utilisé comme arrêt en phase ayant une ouverture variable dynamique dont la taille est définie par l'application sélectionnée d'un potentiel électrique en travers d'une ou plusieurs électrodes (13, 14, 16 et 18) concentriques, transparentes en forme d'anneau. Le dispositif électro-optique (10) trouve une utilité particulière dans un interféromètre de trajectoire ordinaire (40) où la visibilité en bordure est optimisée en utilisant des dispositifs servo-électroniques idoines (56) pour sélectionner une taille d'ouverture appropriée pour l'arrêt en phase (10).
Abstract:
Un système et un procédé, servant à coder des informations sur un faisceau optique, utilise un matériau photoréfractif (18), afin de moduler le faisceau. Un champ électrique alternatif est appliqué au matériau photoréfractif (18) et modulé de façon à faire varier l'ellipsoïde de référence du matériau par l'intermédiaire de l'effet électro-optique et, partant, de moduler un faisceau de sortie (20A) selon les informations à coder. La présente invention s'applique à la fois à des miroirs à conjugaison de phase à pompage externe et à autopompage et à d'autres systèmes optiques. Différentes techniques de modulation peuvent être utilisées et la modulation peut être isolée des faisceaux bruyants par application du champ électrique de modulation sur un porteur à haute fréquence.
Abstract:
Dispositif (10) de mémoire à holographie associative utilisant un hologramme (12) et deux miroirs à conjugaison de phases (14, 16). Les miroirs (14, 16) sont disposés de manière à former un résonateur conjugué et l'image de sortie (44) du dispositif tend à converger sur l'image mémorisée correspondant le plus étroitement à une image d'entrée (32). Des variantes utilisent un hologramme (52) à stockage et effacements multiples et un seul miroir (14) à conjugaison de phases.