Patents by Inventor Ian C. M. Littler

Ian C. M. Littler has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8726732
    Abstract: A device for detecting seismic acceleration includes a proof mass; a base for providing a sensor acceleration, relative to the proof mass, based on the seismic acceleration; and an optical fiber portion operatively connected between the proof mass and the base for providing a fiber tension based on the sensor acceleration. A fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (FFPI) in the optical fiber portion provides an optical characteristic representative of the fiber tension. A compensator applies a compensating tension to the FFPI to compensate for a change of the optical characteristic due to a temperature change of the FFPI.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: The Australian National University
    Inventors: Ian C. M. Littler, Jong H. Chow, David E. McClelland
  • Patent number: 8693867
    Abstract: A system and method for stabilizing a plurality of output frequencies (wavelengths) of a plurality of lasers (106). The laser beams are combined using optical multiplexer (110) and coupled into length-imbalanced (armlength-mismatched) Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) (114) having an optical modulator (e.g. AOM) (122) in one of its arms. The output of the MZI is divided into corresponding beams via optical demultiplexer (128) and each beam is detected by a respective photo-diode (PD) (134). The individual electric signals, so generated, are demodulated using a corresponding plurality of phase-responsive devices (138) and the resulting phase-signals are directed to a plurality of servo-controllers (148) to control the central frequency of the respective lasers (106) via a corresponding plurality of feedback loop circuits (150). The lasers (106) can have different central frequencies which can also be individually tunned using offset modules (141) in the phase-responsive devices (138).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: The Australian National University
    Inventors: Ian C. M. Littler, Jong H. Chow, Malcolm B. Gray, David E. McClelland
  • Publication number: 20110283795
    Abstract: A device for detecting seismic acceleration including a proof mass; a base for providing a sensor acceleration, relative to the proof mass, based on the seismic acceleration; an optical fibre portion operatively connected between the proof mass and the base for providing a fibre tension based on the sensor acceleration, a fibre Fabry-Perot interferometer (FFPI) in the optical fibre portion for providing an optical characteristic representative of the fibre tension, and a compensator for applying a compensating tension to the FFPI to compensate for a change of the optical characteristic due to a temperature change of the FFPI.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2009
    Publication date: November 24, 2011
    Applicant: THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Ian C. M. Littler, Jong H. Chow, David E. McClelland
  • Publication number: 20110122904
    Abstract: A system and method for stabilising a plurality of output frequencies (wavelengths) of a plurality of lasers (106). The laser beams are combined using optical multiplexer (110) and coupled into length-imbalanced (armlength-mismatched) Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) (114) having an optical modulator (e.g. AOM) (122) in one of its arms. The output of the MZI is divided into corresponding beams via optical demultiplexer (128) and each beam is detected by a respective photo-diode (PD) (134). The individual electric signals, so generated, are demodulated using a corresponding plurality of phase-responsive devices (138) and the resulting phase-signals are directed to a plurality of servo-controllers (148) to control the central frequency of the respective lasers (106) via a corresponding plurality of feedback loop circuits (150). The lasers (106) can have different central frequencies which can also be individually tunned using offset modules (141) in the phase-responsive devices (138).
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 1, 2009
    Publication date: May 26, 2011
    Applicant: Australian National University
    Inventors: Ian C. M. Littler, Jong H. Chow, Malcolm B. Gray, David E. McClelland