US Patent 7715725 Lock detector and optical phase-locked loop system

A lock detection apparatus detecting lock of an optical phase-locked loop apparatus including a first phase detector comparing phases of an input light signal and a beat light signal to output a first phase comparison signal, a loop filter forming the first phase comparison signal, and an optical voltage controlled oscillator outputting the beat light signal based on the formed first phase comparison signal. The lock detection apparatus includes: a phase shifter shifting the phase of the beat light signal; and a second phase detector comparing the phases of the input light signal and the phase-shifted beat light signal to output a second phase comparison signal, wherein the phase shifter shifts a quantity of the phase so that the phase comparison signal may not be 0 when the phases of the two light signals compared by the second phase detector synchronize with each other to the beat light signal.