Analog-to-digital converter

Claim 1

An analog-to-digital converter comprising: a. means for producing a collimated beam of light, b. a first electro-optic device in the path of said beam of coherent light for deflecting said beam in a first predetermined direction as a function of the level of an analog signal, c. a second electro-optic device in the path of said coherent light for deflecting said beam in a direction orthogonal to the deflection of the beam by said first electro-optical device, d. a plurality of light activated sensing elements positioned in an M-N type matrix where M represents columns and N represents rows, said matrix being disposed generally at right angles to said light beam to be scanned thereby after it passes through said electro-optical devices, e. all of said elements in any one row being designed to generate signals of the same type in response to said collimated beam of light, f. all of said elements in different rows producing an output signal which is different from that produced by the elements in the next adjacent rows, g. all of said elements being capable of retaining their excited state until read out by the application of read-out signals to said mosaic, h. means including electrical circuit apparatus connected to said light activated elements for providing a digital output representative of sampled points of said analog signal.