Patent ID: 7425696

Claim:
A photoelectric oscillator comprising: a laser beam projection unit; an optical modulator on an optical path extending from the projection unit, which optical modulator outputs a modulated signal or an optical signal containing a harmonic of the modulated signal and includes a modulation electrode whose resonant radio-frequency band includes the frequency band of the modulation signal; a photoelectric converter configured to convert the output of the optical modulator to an electric signal; a temperature adjustment device of the optical modulator having a resonant electrode structure and configured to regulate the oscillation frequency of the photoelectric oscillator; a feedback circuit configured to feed an oscillating radio-frequency electric signal obtained from the photoelectric converter back to the optical modulator; and an output section configured to output an optical signal containing the modulation signal or a harmonic of the modulation signal or outputting the modulation signal or a harmonic of the modulation signal, a laser beam of sufficient intensity being input from the projection unit configured to produce a radio-frequency electric signal in the feedback circuit, and the radio-frequency electric signal or an optical signal containing the radio-frequency electric signal or the radio-frequency signal being output from the photoelectric oscillator.