A method and system for optical superheterodyne detection

摘要

A system and method for superheterodyne detection in accordance with the invention. The system comprises a first conversion unit (210) for performing a first heterodyne operation on an optical input signal (230) to generate an electrical IF signal (425). A second conversion unit (220) is electrically or optically coupled to the first conversion unit (210). The second conversion unit (220) performs a second heterodyne operation to generate an electrical output signal (240) suitable for signal processing.