Optical receiver for full-field optical quadrature demodulation

Abstract

An optical receiver for performing full-field quadrature demodulation of modulated light signals includes a first polarizing mechanism (P1), a second polarizing mechanism (P2, P3), a beam-splitting mechanism (BS2), an electro-optic modulator (EOM), a quarter-wave retarder mechanism (W), at least one camera sensor (C). The beam-splitting mechanism (BS2) separates incident light beam transmitted by the electro-optic modulator (EOM) so as to allow part of the incident light beam to pass via the quarter-wave retarder mechanism (W) before incurring polarization by the second polarizing mechanism, while another part of the incident light beam incurs polarization by the second polarizing mechanism without passing via the quarter-wave retarder mechanism (W). Q-quadrature and I-quadrature images are accordingly formed on the at least one camera sensor (C). The optical receiver further comprises circuitry configured to perform the full-field quadrature demodulation on the basis of light beams simultaneously acquired to obtain I-quadrature and Q-quadrature images.