Photonics at APL

The photon is a fundamental entity of light having both wave and particle properties. When you gaze at the front cover, billions upon billions of photons illuminate it in a random fashion from natural light in the room. Photonics is the field of study associated with the science and engineering of controlling the generation, manipulation, and detection of such photons in an orderly fashion. Through this control, novel devices and systems can be developed to use the unique properties of light for applications such as optical communications, optical processing, radar systems, and laser remote-sensing systems. This issue of the Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest features articles related to applications of photonics for these important areas of interest to APL.

Photonics at APL: Guest Editor's Introduction
Raymond M. Sova

Photonic Analog-to-Digital Conversion
Patrick T. Callahan, Michael L. Dennis, and Thomas R. Clark Jr.

A Fiber Laser Photonic Frequency Synthesizer: Concept, Performance, and Applications
Michael C. Gross, Patrick T. Callahan, and Michael L. Dennis

Photonic Signal Generation for Millimeter-Wave Communications
Jeffrey A. Nanzer, Patrick T. Callahan, Michael L. Dennis, and Thomas R. Clark Jr.

Global Positioning System over Fiber for Buoyant Cable Antennas
Adil M. Karim, Stephen J. Stafford, and R. Benjamin Baker

Conformal Free-Space Optical Communications Terminal Designs for Highly Confined Vehicles
Daniel V. Hahn, David M. Brown, Andrea M. Brown, Chun-Huei Bair, Mark J. Mayr, Nathan W. Rolander, Joseph E. Sluz, and Radha Venkat

A Compact Laser Altimeter for Spacecraft Landing Applications
Jonathan R. Bruzzi, Kim Strohbehn, Bradley G. Boone, Samuel Kerem, Russell S. Layman, and Matthew W. Noble

All-Optical Computing Using the Zeno Effect
Bryan C. Jacobs, Chad N. Weiler, Jeffrey P. Maranchi, Chad R. Sprouse, Dennis G. Lucarelli, and Brian G. Raybur

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