Abstract: The present invention relates to a container lock, a method for locking a container with at least one door (2), and a container provided with a lock, said door (2) having a first frame edge portion (4), and said container having a second frame edge portion (5) positioned adjacent to said first frame edge portion (4) in a closed position of the door, wherein said container lock comprises: an interior blocking portion (6), having a body (20) adapted to extend over said first and second frame edge portions (4, 5), and an engaging abutment (7, 47, 87, 107) and an extension portion (8, 88, 108) extending out from said body (20) so that, when said interior portion (6) is arranged on the inside of said second frame edge portion (5), said engaging abutment (7, 47, 87, 107) and extension portion (8, 88, 108) provide interacting engagement of opposite side surfaces of said second frame edge portion (5), and said extension portion (8, 88, 108) extends from the interior of the container to the exterior of the container,

Abstract: An electro-optic device including a liquid crystal material is disclosed, comprising antiferroelectric liquid crystals with large molecular tilt ? of about 45° degrees, disposed between two flat glass or polymer substrates. The liquid crystal molecules are preferably oriented parallel to the substrates (so-called HAF texture). The device is e.g. placed between two crossed polarizers so that in field-off conditions the impinging light is not passing through the device due to the isotropic optical properties of the antiferreoelectric liquid crystal aligned in HAF texture. An applied electric field induces a continuous transition of the optically isotropic antiferreoelectric (AF) state to ferroelectric (F) one which is birefringent enabling the transmission of light. The field-induced continuous switching between the optically isotropic antiferreoelectric state and the birefringent ferroelectric state enables the generation and fast switching of high contrast as well as generation of grey scale levels.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a container lock, a method for locking a container with at least one door (2), and a container provided with a lock, said door (2) having a first frame edge portion (4), and said container having a second frame edge portion (5) positioned adjacent to said first frame edge portion (4) in a closed position of the door, wherein said container lock comprises: an interior blocking portion (6), having a body (20) adapted to extend over said first and second frame edge portions (4, 5), and an engaging abutment (7, 47, 87, 107) and an extension portion (8, 88, 108) extending out from said body (20) so that, when said interior portion (6) is arranged on the inside of said second frame edge portion (5), said engaging abutment (7, 47, 87, 107) and extension portion (8, 88, 108) provide interacting engagement of opposite side surfaces of said second frame edge portion (5), and said extension portion (8, 88, 108) extends from the interior of the container to the exterior of the container,

Abstract: An electro-optic device including a liquid crystal material is disclosed, comprising antiferroelectric liquid crystals with large molecular tilt ? of about 45° degrees, disposed between two flat glass or polymer substrates. The liquid crystal molecules are preferably oriented parallel to the substrates (so-called HAF texture). The device is e.g. placed between two crossed polarizers so that in field-off conditions the impinging light is not passing through the device due to the isotropic optical properties of the antiferreoelectric liquid crystal aligned in HAF texture. An applied electric field induces a continuous transition of the optically isotropic antiferreoelectric (AF) state to ferroelectric (F) one which is birefringent enabling the transmission of light. The field-induced continuous switching between the optically isotropic antiferreoelectric state and the birefringent ferroelectric state enables the generation and fast switching of high contrast as well as generation of grey scale levels.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to methods for one-step purification of organic polymers using tangential flow filtration. In one embodiment, the present invention relates to methods for size fractionation of heterogeneous organic polymers, such as poly(ethylene glycol) derivatives, using tangential flow filtration. The present invention also relates to purification of low molecular weight monofunctional organic polymer derivatives produced by procedures in which high molecular weight bifunctional poly(ethylene glycol) impurities are removed. The present invention further relates to purification of high molecular weight branched polymer products from low molecular weight starting materials.

Abstract: A support structure for a vehicle seat assembly which allows the seat position to be adjusted forwardly or rearwardly with respect to the vehicle. The seat support structure is mounted to a vehicle structure and includes a first track, a second track, a torque tube and a brace member supported for movement relative to the first track with the seat bottom being supported on the second track for movement relative to the first track. A restraint bracket which is attached to the seat belt is adjacent the torque tube and second track without the necessity of fasteners. The restraint bracket mounting allows a force to be transfered to the associated torque tube, first track, and second track. The present invention further provides a method of seat assembly in which the torque tube is maintained under compression and the brace member under tension to provide a rigid, integral seat support structure.

Abstract: In this invention telemetry information is transmitted in an optical fiber communication system by providing an amplifier pump with excess power beyond that necessary to pump the amplifier. The excess power is not used to pump the amplifier but is rather used to transmit the telemetry information. In a specific embodiment, an optical communication system including a doped optical fiber amplifier such as, for example, an erbium doped amplifier, is provided with an amplifier pump which operates at approximately 1.48 .mu.m. The amplifier pump is provided with excess power so as to transmit telemetry information. In a specific embodiment, the telemetry signal can be detected with a low cost photodetector at a subsequent station.

Abstract: In an optical communication system, in order to reduce simultaneously both second and third harmonic distortion in a light beam from a modulated semiconductor laser, a nonlinear interferometric deivce--such as a Fabry-Perot etalon--is inserted in the path of the beam. The parameters of the interferometric device--such as its phase and finesse--are selected such that, for a suitable laser bias current, the second and third harmonics produced by nonlinearities of the laser (plus nonlinearities of the transmission medium such as an optical fiber, if any, through which the beam propagates from source to receiver) are significantly compensated by nonlinearities of the interometric device.

Abstract: The span of an optical dispersion-limited fiber for propagating optical pulses is improved by simultaneously chirping and amplifying the stream by means of a saturated semiconductor laser amplifier. The chirp causes a compression of the pulses as they propagate through an initial portion of the fiber, whereby the span of the fiber is increased.

Abstract: In a fiber-optic communication system, a polarization independent semiconductor optical amplifier structure is achieved by tailoring the height-width aspect ratio of its active region to a value at least close to unity and at the same time using a laser cavity structure in which the end mirrors are buried in the semiconductor body in which the optical amplifier structure is built.

Abstract: A single frequency lightwave system employs semiconductor, optical amplifiers arranged in tandem with suitable nose filtering and isolation between amplifier stages. Feedback control maintains overlap between the signal frequency and one of the passbands of the amplifiers. Either direct detection or coherent detection can be used. Also described is a receiver front end which includes such an amplifier between the incoming signal and a photodetector. Both transmission systems and switching systems are described.

Abstract: A polarization independent semiconductor amplifier is used in a double-pass configuration; that is, the output of the amplifier is passed through a 45.degree. Faraday rotator to a mirror and then through the rotator and the amplifier again. Polarization independent gain is thus achieved.

Abstract: In the interest of ease of manufacture, hybrid lasers of distributed-Bragg-reflector type are preferred for use as light sources in optical communications. Such lasers are made to operate away from mode instabilities by adjusting a laser parameter such as, e.g., laser temperature, thereby assuring highly error-free transmission. Alternatively, by suitable design of the Bragg reflector it is possible to render mode instability of negligible influence on error rate.

Abstract: A polarization insensitive optical device is disclosed which is capable of providing direct optical amplification of an input signal of unknown (and possibly varying) polarization. A polarization diversity technique is utilized wherein a polarization beam splitter is used to divide the incoming signal into orthogonal components of known polarization (TE,TM). The orthogonal components are then separately amplified, using a semiconductor laser as the amplifying device. The amplified components are then recombined, either optically or electrically, to form the final output signal.

Abstract: Highly frequency-selective reflectivity is realized in an optical device including a waveguide and an evanescent-field coupled grating resonator cavity. The device may include a light source and serve as a low-chirp, narrow-linewidth communications laser for use, e.g., for transmission over a fiber having non-negligible dispersion and also in wavelength-multiplexed coherent systems.

Abstract: A light transmitter comprising a cleaved-coupled cavity laser and stabilization means to maintain the laser in single longitudinal mode operation is described.

Abstract: A laser-driven interferometric signal sensing system has a cleaved-coupled cavity laser with separate stabilization servo loops of different time constants for the modulator and laser sections thereof. The laser section is biased above lasing threshold, and its stabilization loop is operated at a frequency twice the frequency of laser section bias current modulation. A laser loop feedback error signal is a function of predetermined, environmental-type, parameter variations in the sensing location and is processed to be a function of the second derivative of interferometer output intensity with respect to laser section current. That error signal is applied to modify laser section bias current in a direction to zero out the feedback signal.

Abstract: An analog-to-digital converter using a frequency tunable laser having output radiation of a frequency determined by the input voltage to the laser is described.

Abstract: Frequency shift keying optical communications devices using a cleaved coupled cavity laser are described. The cleaved coupled cavity laser comprises first and second laser diode sections which are mutually optically coupled to each other and means for adjusting the refractive index of the first and second sections relative to each other. The cleaved coupled cavity laser is part of a light source which further comprises means for selecting at least one desired output frequency from a group of at least two output frequencies.

Abstract: An amplitude modulator for a tunable ring cavity dye laser is disclosed. The modulator is operated in time synchronization with the laser pump and is located assymetrically within the ring to attenuate dye laser pulses in one direction while passing pulses in the opposite direction, thereby producing a mode locked unidirectional travelling wave. The use of a low dispersion electro-optical modulator in a dye laser yields subpicosecond optical pulses with wide tunability.