Optical digital to analog converter

摘要

Method and apparatus for conversion of digital multistate signals, representing a numerical value, to an optical output signal having an amplitude analogous to the numerical value. A controllable density optical transmission device provides plural optical signals representative of the digital states of components of the input signal. The plural optical signals are weighted and summed by optical filters to provide the desired analogous optical output representing the input numerical value. The use of phase shifting filters enables the conversion of negative and complex numbers. A two dimensional liquid crystal array may be used as the controllable optical transmission device to enable conversion of a plurality of numerical values simultaneously.