An energy transmission unit having a radiation source that generates an energy beam to transmit energy from the transmission unit to an energy receiving unit. The receiving unit includes an energy converter receiving an energy beam and converting it into electrical energy. When the energy transmission and receiving units are spatially aligned relative to one another, information is captured via markers or reflectors of the energy receiving unit about the presence of objects, humans or animals, or the position of the eyes of humans or animals. Defined criteria are checked on the basis of the captured information, and a radiation source of the energy transmission unit is aligned to a detected position of the energy receiving unit and activated, such that an energy beam is generated by the radiation source and energy of the energy beam generated by the radiation source can be received by the energy receiving unit.

A reception apparatus includes: a receiving unit configured to coherently detect an optical signal and output an electrical signal containing a modulated signal and a pilot signal; a first compensating unit configured to detect a frequency of the pilot signal by performing a DFT of the electrical signal, and determine and compensate for frequency error in the electrical signal based on a reference frequency; a frequency converting unit configured to convert the frequency of the pilot signal after the compensating such that the frequency of the pilot signal is lowered by the reference frequency; and a second compensating unit configured to determine frequency error in the modulated signal after the compensating by performing a DFT on the pilot signal after the frequency converting and detecting a frequency of the pilot signal after the frequency converting.

Provided is a polarization multiplexing optical transmitting and receiving circuit that compensates for transmission side PDL so as to suppress a reduction in transmission power and makes a branching ratio of light from a light source variable between a transmission side and a receiving side according to a system to be used. The polarization multiplexing optical transmitting and receiving circuit includes an optical variable branching circuit that branches the light output from the light source, a light fixing symmetric branching circuit connected to one of outputs of the optical variable branching circuit and a light fixing asymmetric branching circuit connected to the other, optical receivers connected to two outputs of the light fixing symmetric branching circuit, respectively, optical transmitters connected to two outputs of the light fixing asymmetric branching circuit, a polarized wave rotator connected to one of the optical transmitters, and a polarized wave multiplexer that polarization-multiplexes the outputs of the optical transmitters.

Provided is a polarization multiplexing optical transmitting and receiving circuit that compensates for transmission side PDL so as to suppress a reduction in transmission power and makes a branching ratio of light from a light source variable between a transmission side and a receiving side according to a system to be used. The polarization multiplexing optical transmitting and receiving circuit includes an optical variable branching circuit that branches the light output from the light source, a light fixing symmetric branching circuit connected to one of outputs of the optical variable branching circuit and a light fixing asymmetric branching circuit connected to the other, optical receivers connected to two outputs of the light fixing symmetric branching circuit, respectively, optical transmitters connected to two outputs of the light fixing asymmetric branching circuit, a polarized wave rotator connected to one of the optical transmitters, and a polarized wave multiplexer that polarization-multiplexes the outputs of the optical transmitters.

A digital signal processing, DSP, unit (10) for use in a coherent optical receiver for an optical communications network. The DSP unit comprises an adaptive equaliser (12) and a processing block (22). The equaliser (12) comprises input ports for receiving electrical signals, each corresponding to a different state of polarization of an optical signal received by the coherent optical receiver,and output ports,each connected to a processing branch (14). A processing branch comprises a symbol sequence estimator, SSE, (16) and a carrier phase estimator, CPE, (18) comprising an input for receiving signal taped from an output of the processing branch. An output of the CPE is connected to a phase adjuster (20) interconnecting the respective output port of the equaliser and the SSE. The processing block (22) is connected to an output of the CPE,an output of the processing branch and at least one of the output of the phase adjuster and the outputs of the equalizer.

A pluggable optical connector is configured to be insertable into and removable from an optical communication apparatus, and to be capable of communicating a modulation signal and a data signal with the optical communication apparatus. A wavelength-tunable light source is configured to output an output light and a local oscillation light. An optical transmission unit is configured to output an optical signal generated by modulating the output light in response to the modulation signal. An optical reception unit is configured to demodulate an optical signal received by using the local oscillation light to the data signal. Pluggable optical receptors are configured in such a manner that an optical fiber is insertable into and removable from the pluggable optical receptors, and configured to be capable of outputting the optical signal to the optical fiber and transferring the optical signal received thorough the optical fiber to the optical reception unit.

A luminous system comprising one or more illumination sources, a multilayer structure, and one or more diffuse reflection layers being optically decoupled from the multilayer structure, wherein the emission and the reflection of the luminous system produce a first observed visible color when the one or more illumination sources are powered and a second observed visible color when the one or more illumination sources are non-powered is disclosed. Also disclosed are methods of creating the inventive luminous system.

Nanopatch antennas and related methods for enhancing and tailoring are disclosed. According to an aspect, an apparatus includes a conductive material defining a substantially planar surface. The apparatus also includes a conductive nanostructure defining a substantially planar surface. The conductive material and the conductive nanostructure are positioned such that the planar surface of the conductive material faces the planar surface of the conductive nanostructure, such that the planar surfaces are substantially parallel, and such that the planar surfaces are spaced by a selected distance. The apparatus also includes an optically-active material positioned between the planar surfaces.

A device may receive health information associated with a network circuit included in an optical network. The device may determine, based on the health information and network circuit information associated with the network circuit, that the network circuit is experiencing a health issue. The device may identify a diagnostic technique to be applied to the network circuit based on determining that the network circuit is experiencing the health issue. The device may automatically and iteratively apply the identified diagnostic technique to the network circuit in order to identify a fault location. The device may determine a corrective action, associated with the network circuit, based on the fault location and the health issue. The device may provide information associated with the corrective action to cause the corrective action to be taken.

A reception apparatus includes a dispersion compensation unit configured to acquire an electrical signal resulting from conversion of an optical signal and perform, on the electrical signal, dispersion compensation with a predetermined compensation amount, a clip rate measurement unit configured to measure a clip rate for the electrical signal subjected to the dispersion compensation, and a control unit configured to detect the compensation amount that minimizes the clip rate.