Patent ID: 8861983

Claim:
A system for transporting a wide band RF signal having a variable amplitude, said system comprising: an optical phase modulator with an electrical input adapted to be coupled to a source of said wide band RF signal, an optical input adapted to receive a coherent narrow band optical carrier and an optical output adapted to output said optical carrier phase modulated by said amplitude of said wide band RF signal, a non-coherent optical detector having an optical input and an optical detector output, said optical input adapted to receive said phase modulated optical carrier, said optical detector output representing said wide band RF signal, wherein said optical carrier is located in a linear region of a transfer function of said non-coherent optical detector and the optical signal lies within a single transition region of the transfer function; a propagation path coupling said optical carrier modulated with said wide band RF signal from said optical phase modulator to said optical input of said non-coherent optical detector, and a photo-detector having an optical input and an electrical output, said optical input of said photo-detector coupled to said optical detector output, said electrical output of the photo-detector providing electrical signals corresponding to said wide band RF signal.