Acousto-Optic Binary Data Recorder

Abstract

The design, fabrication, and testing of an acousto-optic-based binary data recorder are described. The data to be recorded are applied to an acousto-optic (AO) Bragg cell illuminated by a pulsed laser diode, and the bit sequence present in the cell is imaged onto a linear detector array. Emphasis was placed on incorporating the optical system and the linear detector array with its control board into a rugged module of modest size capable of recording non-return-to-zero data at rates of 200 Mbits/s or greater. The design specifications of the AO cell and the pulsed laser were based on earlier analysis and proof-of-principle experiments. An in-house-built TI3AsS4 AO cell with a bandwidth of 260 MHz centered at 400 MHz gave 11% diffraction efficiency at the 810 nm wavelength used in the system. When used with a laser pulse of 4 ns full-width at half-maximum, this system had a maximum operating rate of 240 Mbits/s. The same optical system used with an AO cell with 500 MHz bandwidth and a 1.7 ns laser pulse had a maximum rate of 500 Mbits/s. The quality of the optical imaging did not appear to limit the performance, suggesting the possibility of either further increasing the data rate or reducing the size. Possible modifications to explore these options are discussed.