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EP0534644A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Optical communications systems

Assignee: Nortel Networks Ltd
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Filing: 1992-09-10
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2012-09-10
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Abstract

Abstract In an optical communications system including a transmitter (laser 1) and a receiver, with an optical amplifier (3) and an optical filter (4) therebetween, the position of the passband of the optical filter (4) is adjusted automatically in dependence on a received pilot carrier signal frequency transmitted with the data. This facilitates initial selection of transmitter laser (1) and avoids the need for transmitter laser frequency stabilisation. The optical filter acquires and tracks the optical carrier used by the transmitter

Inventors

  • 👤 Anagnostis Hadjifotiou

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-10 01:26
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04B; H04B10/00; H04B10/60; H04B10/66; H04B10/67; H04B10/671; H04B10/675

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 9
Claim 1
Independent Claim 98 words
An optical communications system comprising an optical transmitter (1) and an optical receiver (5) and including an optical amplifier (3) and an optical filter (4) arranged in series therebetween, data being transmitted by the transmitter to the receiver, characterised by including means whereby an optical pilot carrier signal is added to the data to be transmitted and means (AM1, 7, FL1, 6) whereby the position of the passband of the optical filter (4) is adjusted in dependence on the received optical pilot carrier signal frequency such that the position of the passband tracks variations in the transmitted frequency.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 94 words
A system as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the optical amplifier (3) is a preamplifier of the receiver and including means whereby the received pilot carrier signal is detected differentially at the receiver (5) from the output of the optical filter (4), amplified, filtered to remove high frequency signal components generated by said detection and applied to a controller (6) for the optical filter, the controller serving to change the frequency of the maximum response of the optical filter so that it coincides with that of the transmitted optical pilot carrier signal.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 92 words
A system as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the optical amplifier is an optical line repeater amplifier (13) and including means whereby the pilot carrier signal at the output of the optical filter (14) is detected (16), amplified (18), filtered (19) to remove high frequency signal components generated by said detection and applied to a controller (20) for the optical filter, the controller serving to change the frequency of the maximum response of the optical filter (14) so that it coincides with that of the transmitted optical pilot carrier signal.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 24 words
A system as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the detected pilot carrier signal is filtered and rectified prior to said filtering.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 27 words
A system as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the detected pilot carrier signal is mixed with a local reference frequency prior to said filtering.
Claim 6
Independent Claim 19 words
A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the optical amplifier is a semiconductor device.
Claim 7
Independent Claim 21 words
A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the optical amplifier is an erbium doped silica fibre.
Claim 8
Independent Claim 30 words
A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the optical filter is a multilayer interference filter or another filter whose band pass position can be adjusted.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 41 words
A system as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the optical filter, detection means, amplifying means, filtering means and said controller comprise a tracking filter which serves automatically initially to acquire the carrier signal and then to track it.

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