US Patent 7587140 Optical time-division demultiplexing apparatus

Amplitude modulation is performed for a signal light with a modulation signal having the same cycle as that of an optical pulse to be extracted by using an optical modulator. At this time, timing is adjusted so that the peak of the optical pulse of the channel to be extracted of the signal light becomes the largest. A spectrum of the amplitude-modulated signal light is expanded according to the size of the peak of the optical pulse by a spectrum expander. Then, part of the expanded spectrum is extracted with a band pass filter, whereby the optical pulse of the desired channel is extracted.