| 摘要 |
<p>Optical pulses from an unmodulated pulse generator (10) (e.g., Q-switched laser or mode-locked semi-conductor laser) are divided into optical paths of differing lengths (11-15), and hence differing optical transit times. A modulator (G) is inserted into at least some of the optical paths, and the outputs of the paths are combined onto a single optical fiber (17). This provides a total bit rate on the optical fiber equal to the sum of the modulation rates on each path. Hence, a relatively low pulse rate source and relatively low bit rate modulators are utilized to obtain a higher effective rate. Additional modulated paths may be provided at various locations along the optical fiber, for adding information thereto. A corresponding demodulation scheme is also possible, wherein a high bit rate optical data stream is divided into a plurality of lower rate streams.</p> |
