Patent ID: 7092632

Claim:
An optical communication apparatus, comprising: an optical transmission line made of a material having a non-linear optical effect; a light irradiation section for irradiating light into said optical transmission line, wherein light propagating in said optical transmission line is in a first direction and the irradiating light is in a second direction that differs from the first direction and that is at an incident angle to the light propagating in said optical transmission line to cause the non-linear optical effect to occur; and a light reception section for receiving light emitted externally from said optical transmission line by the non-linear optical effect between the light irradiated into said optical transmission line by said light irradiation section and light propagating in said optical transmission line acquire intensity information of the light propagating in said optical transmission line, wherein the light emitted externally from said optical transmission line by the non-linear effect is in a third direction that differs from the first direction and that is at an emitting angle to the light propagating in said optical transmission line, and wherein the light propagating from said optical transmission line has a plurality of wavelengths, and the light emitted externally from said optical transmission line by the non-linear optical effect has a plurality of wavelengths corresponding to the plurality of wavelengths propagating in said optical transmission line.