Abstract: A method and apparatus includes an optical source for a single order single-sideband suppressed-carrier optical signal with a bandwidth that scales from over 1 gigaHertz to greater than 20 gigaHertz. In an example embodiment, an apparatus includes a stable laser source configured to output an optical carrier signal at a carrier frequency. The apparatus includes a radio frequency electrical source configured to output an electrical radio frequency signal with a radio frequency bandwidth less than one octave. The apparatus also includes an optical modulator configured to output an optical signal with the optical carrier signal modulated by the radio frequency signal in a plurality of orders of optical frequency sidebands. The apparatus further includes an optical filter configured to pass one single order optical frequency sideband of the optical signal.

Abstract: Modules and methods that provide virtual device communication via information packets addressed to the virtual devices. Virtual devices aggregate capabilities of target devices and represent the aggregate as an operational device to remote systems. Physical device elements and virtual devices contained within modules are able to communicate and cooperate over extended distances in a peer-to-peer fashion via a virtual bus tunnel offering addressing and data transport functionality. Such modules and methods can be combined with disk drives to form RAID-like storage structures.

Abstract: Modules and methods that provide virtual device communication via information packets addressed to the virtual devices. Virtual devices aggregate capabilities of target devices and represent the aggregate as an operational device to remote systems. Physical device elements and virtual devices contained within modules are able to communicate and cooperate over extended distances in a peer-to-peer fashion via a virtual bus tunnel offering addressing and data transport functionality. Such modules and methods can be combined with disk drives to form RAID-like storage structures.

Abstract: Modules and methods that provide virtual device communication via information packets addressed to the virtual devices. Virtual devices aggregate capabilities of target devices and represent the aggregate as an operational device to remote systems. Physical device elements and virtual devices contained within modules are able to communicate and cooperate over extended distances in a peer-to-peer fashion via a virtual bus tunnel offering addressing and data transport functionality. Such modules and methods can be combined with disk drives to form RAID-like storage structures.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a single or dual output port, dual-drive Mach-Zehnder Interferometer configured to generate a first optical signal in one path, and to generate a second optical signal in a different path. The apparatus also includes an optical spectrum analyzer configured to receive output from at least one port of the dual-drive Mach-Zehnder Interferometer. A method includes causing radio frequency signals from two different antennae to modulate an optical carrier at a corresponding drive of a dual-drive Mach-Zehnder Interferometer, and causing output from at least one port of the Mach-Zehnder Interferometer to be directed to an optical spectrum analyzer. The method further comprises determining arrival angle at each of a plurality of frequencies in the radio frequency signals based on output from the optical spectrum analyzer.

Abstract: A method and apparatus includes an optical source for a single order single-sideband suppressed-carrier optical signal with a bandwidth that scales from over 1 gigaHertz to greater than 20 gigaHertz. In an example embodiment, an apparatus includes a stable laser source configured to output an optical carrier signal at a carrier frequency. The apparatus includes a radio frequency electrical source configured to output an electrical radio frequency signal with a radio frequency bandwidth less than one octave. The apparatus also includes an optical modulator configured to output an optical signal with the optical carrier signal modulated by the radio frequency signal in a plurality of orders of optical frequency sidebands. The apparatus further includes an optical filter configured to pass one single order optical frequency sideband of the optical signal.

Abstract: Stateless storage accelerator modules comprise network interfaces and filter functions that enable the accelerated processing of stateless protocols associated with network storage. Filter functions examine packets received over the network interface according to contexts associated with the destination of the packets. Contexts are found quickly through a fast look-up to ensure high performance of the over all system. The contexts comprise information associated with storage areas including addresses associated with the storage areas.

Abstract: Modules and methods that provide virtual device communication via information packets addressed to the virtual devices. Virtual devices aggregate capabilities of target devices and represent the aggregate as an operational device to remote systems. Physical device elements and virtual devices contained within modules are able to communicate and cooperate over extended distances in a peer-to-peer fashion via a virtual bus tunnel offering addressing and data transport functionality. Such modules and methods can be combined with disk drives to form RAID-like storage structures.

Abstract: Modules and methods that provide virtual device communication via information packets addressed to the virtual devices. Virtual devices aggregate capabilities of target devices and represent the aggregate as an operational device to remote systems. Physical device elements and virtual devices contained within modules are able to communicate and cooperate over extended distances in a peer-to-peer fashion via a virtual bus tunnel offering addressing and data transport functionality. Such modules and methods can be combined with disk drives to form RAID-like storage structures.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for converting an analog waveform to a series of digital values includes receiving an input analog waveform to be digitized over a particular frequency band. A phase-sensitive frequency-domain representation of the input analog waveform is recorded. The phase-sensitive frequency-domain representation is read out and digitized to produce a spectral series of digital values. An output series of digital values that represent the analog waveform digitized over the particular frequency band is determined based on the spectral series. In some embodiments, the spectral series of digital values is produced with a conventional high dynamic range, low bandwidth digitizer that has a bandwidth at least a factor of two less than a width of the particular frequency band for digitizing the target analog waveform.

Abstract: Techniques for detecting optical spectral properties of a target are described. The technique includes providing an optical carrier which has an optical frequency bandwidth which is narrow compared to the width of the narrowest spectral feature of the target to be determined. This optical carrier is then electro-optically modulated with an RF frequency chirp, creating an optical chirp probe beam with a frequency chirped optical spectrum having upper and lower frequency chirped sidebands that have amplitudes sufficient to be detected at a detector. The sidebands are frequency bands arranged symmetrically around the optical carrier frequency. The attributes of a sideband include a start frequency, bandwidth and chirp rate. A probe beam is generated with the sidebands and directed onto a target having a physical property with optical frequency dependence. An optical response signal resulting from an interaction between the probe beam and the target is detected.

Abstract: Techniques for reconfiguring spectral features stored in a medium based on a two-state atomic system with transition dipole moment ? includes causing a chirp to pass into the medium. The chirp includes a monochromatic frequency that varies in time by a chirp rate ? over a frequency band BR during a time interval TR. The amplitude AR of the chirp is constant over BR and equal to AR=(hbar/??)?{square root over ((? ln [2/?]))}, The term hbar is reduced Plank's constant, ln is a natural logarithm function, and ? is a ratio of a circumference of a circle to a diameter of the circle. For ?<<1, the atomic-state populations in the two states are inverted. For ?=1, prior atomic-state populations are erased, with final populations equal in the two states, regardless of populations before erasure.

Abstract: Techniques for analog processing of high time-bandwidth-product (TBP) signals use a material with an inhomogeneously broadened absorption spectrum including multiple homogeneously broadened absorption lines. A first set of signals on optical carriers interact in the material during a time on the order of a phase coherence time of the homogeneously broadened absorption lines to record an analog interaction absorption spectrum. Within a time on the order of a population recovery time for a population of optical absorbers it the material, the interaction absorption spectrum in the material is read to produce a digital readout signal. The readout signal represents a temporal map of the interaction absorption spectrum, and includes frequency components that relate to a processing result of processing the first set of signals. The techniques allow processing of RADAR signals for improved range resolution to a target, as well as speed of the target, among other uses.

Abstract: Techniques for reading the spectral content of a spatial-spectral grating in an inhomogeneously broadened transition (IBT) material include directing multiple probe waveforms to probe a spatial mode of the IBT material. Each probe waveform is a linear frequency modulated chirp; each probe waveform partially overlaps in frequency with a different probe waveform; and multiple output signals are detected from the IBT material in response. Based on the multiple output signals, a readout signal is determined that represents a complete or nearly complete temporal map of the spectral content of the spatial-spectral grating. Calibration of the frequency content can be achieved by simultaneously reading out calibration spectral features. These techniques allow high-bandwidth spectral content to be read with segmented narrow bandwidth chirp probe waveforms and low-bandwidth high-dynamic-range detectors and digitizers.

Abstract: Techniques for recovering optical spectral features include receiving a detected time series that represents a temporally varying intensity of an optical signal. The optical signal is formed in response to an interaction between a target optical spectrum and a chirped optical field. The chirped optical field is an optical field that has a monochromatic frequency that varies in time. The target optical spectrum is an optical frequency dependent optical property of a material or device. A phase correction factor is determined based only on one or more properties of the chirped optical field. The detected time series is corrected based on the phase correction factor to produce an output time series that reproduces in time a shape of the target spectrum in frequency. These techniques allow for fast measurement of spectral features and eliminate the need for prior knowledge of the target optical spectrum to adjust the chirp rate.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods are disclosed for spatially routing an optical pulse (data pulse) of an electromagnetic radiation and containing a specific address temporal profile and possibly additional data. Routing generally involves a unit of active material that is programmed using one or more input beams or pulses of the electromagnetic radiation providing address (i.e., waveform-discriminating) and directional (i.e., pulse routing) information to the active material. During programming, a spatial-spectral grating is created by optical interference on or in the active material of the input pulses encoding the address and directional information pertinent to the data pulse.

Abstract: An electromagnetic signal processor which uses an inhomogeneously broadened absorbing material to store data for long periods of time and which is able to process an uninterrupted signal. A spectral interference pattern created by the interference of at least two input pulses of electromagnetic radiation is stored in the absorbing medium. The pattern is fixed in the medium to allow for uninterrupted processing of signal data. The fixed pattern employed in such a processor could be reprogrammed by either reversing the gating process used to program the absorbing medium or by spatially directing the electromagnetic beams to a different portion of the material.

Abstract: An optical sensor that uses laser radar techniques to determine the value of a mesaurand. The sensor comprises an encoder, an optical source, sensing means and detection means. The encoder has a plurality of tracks, each track including means for receiving an optical signal and for delaying the optical signal by an encoder delay that is a function of the measurand value. The optical source produces a chirped optical interrogation signal that is received by the sensing means and divided into N channel signals, such that each channel signal strikes one of the tracks. The sensing means delays each channel signal by a unique channel delay. The detection means receives the channel signals after they have struck the tracks, and mixes the channel signals with a facsimile of the interrogation signal, to produce a demodulated signal. The detection means analyzes the frequency components of the demodulated signal, to determine the encoder delays and thereby the value of the measured.

Abstract: A system for producing two or more laser beams having stable frequency differences between them. The system includes two or more lasers that produce the respective laser beams, an optical resonator, and coupling optics for coupling portions of each laser beam into the resonator. The resonator produces feedback beams that are returned to the respective lasers to provide optical feedback. The feedback causes each laser to lock to a resonant mode of the resonator, to thereby stabilize the frequency difference between the lasers. The linewidth of each laser is also reduced.

Abstract: Cross-correlation or convolution or a succession of such operations is performed by exposing an inhomogeneously broadened material to optical radiation pulses modulated in accordance with the information to be cross-correlated or convoluted and detecting the resulting emitted radiation.