Electro-optic analog/digital converter

Claim 1

An electro-optic analog-to-digital converter for digitizing an analog electrical potential V comprising: a plurality of identical dielectric channel optical waveguides fabricated in a single-crystal substrate of linear electro-optic material; a source of linearly polarized light adapted to transmit its output light energy along each of said waveguides; a plurality of electrodes disposed contiguous to said optical waveguides for impressing electric fields thereacross upon the application of electrical potentials; means for receiving said analog electrical potential V and applying an electrical potential to each of said electrodes such that the product of the potential applied to the n th electrode of length L n is V.sub.n L.sub.n = VL.sub.1 × 2.sup.n-1 where n = 1, 2, 3, . . . ; a means responsive to light in each said waveguide for producing output light signals indicative of a predetermined condition of polarization; photodetection means responsive to said output light signals for producing commensurate electrical signals; and an analog comparator for receiving electrical signals derived from the emergent light of each said waveguide and responsive thereto for producing a binary output representative of the relative amplitudes of its received signals.