An efficient optical maser modulation scheme

Abstract

One of the great attractions of optical masers is that they can provide us with a communication carrier at light frequencies. In the present day shortage of communication channels this is a great asset. When we consider the output of a ruby optical maser, we find that it corresponds to a carrier whose frequency is given by v = = c/λ = 4. 3 x 10¹⁴ cycles per second. With a 0,1% modulation bandwidth, we could then obtain a 400 Gc/s wide modulation channel. For practical reasons we could only consider, at present, a modulation channel of some 4 Gc/s, i.e., in the microwave range of frequencies, but even that is exceptionally large by ordinary communication standards. An excellent review of the use of optical masers in the field of communications is given in reference [1].