APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR REDUCING DISTORTION IN AN ANALOG¹OPTICAL TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

摘要

An apparatus and method are provided for reducing distortion in an analog optical transmission system. An analog electrical input signal is split (14) into first and second signal portions. A laser (16) is modulated with the first signal portion to produce a laser output signal. The laser output signal is split (34) into first and second optical signals, and the second optical signal is converted (18) into a corresponding electrical signal. Distortion components introduced by the laser (16) are isolated by combining (24) the corresponding electrical signal with the second signal portion of the original analog electrical input signal. A second laser (32) is then modulated with the distortion components to produce a second laser output signal wherein the distortion components are of equal magnitude but opposite phase to those present in the first optical signal. The second laser output signal and first optical signal are combined (36) to cancel the distortion components from the first optical signal.