Granted Patent B2

US 7,443,893 · App. 11/737,052 · Granted Oct 28, 2008

Abstract

Claims (45)

1. A tunable pulsed laser source comprising:

a seed source adapted to generate a seed signal;

an optical circulator, wherein the optical circulator includes a first port coupled to the seed source, a second port, and a third port;

an amplitude modulator characterized by a first side and a second side, wherein the first side is coupled to the second port of the optical circulator;

a first optical amplifier characterized by an input end and a reflective end, wherein the input end is coupled to the second side of the amplitude modulator; and

a second optical amplifier coupled to the third port of the optical circulator.

2. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 1 wherein the seed source comprises a semiconductor laser.

3. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 2 wherein the semiconductor laser comprises an FBG-stabilized semiconductor laser.

4. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 1 wherein the seed source comprises at least one of a solid-state laser or a fiber laser.

5. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 1 wherein the amplitude modulator comprises a Mach-Zehnder interferometric amplitude modulator adapted to perform time-domain transmission filtering of the seed signal.

6. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 1 wherein the first optical amplifier comprises an optical fiber amplifier.

7. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 6 wherein the optical fiber amplifier comprises a double-pass fiber amplifier.

8. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 6 wherein the optical fiber amplifier comprises a rare-earth doped optical fiber.

9. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 8 wherein rare-earth doping in the rare-earth doped optical fiber comprises a mixture of one or more rare-earth elements.

10. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 9 wherein the one or more rare-earth elements include one or more of Ytterbium, Erbium, Thulium, Holmium, Praseodymium, or Neodymium.

11. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 6 wherein the optical fiber amplifier comprises at least one of a single-clad, double-clad, or multiple-clad fiber design.

12. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 11 wherein the optical fiber amplifier comprises a polarization-maintaining fiber.

13. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 1 wherein the first optical amplifier comprises at least one of a rare-earth doped optical rod amplifier or a rare-earth doped optical disk amplifier.

14. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 1 wherein the second optical amplifier comprises a second optical fiber amplifier.

15. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 14 wherein the second optical fiber amplifier comprises a rare-earth doped optical fiber.

16. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 15 wherein rare-earth doping in the rare-earth doped optical fiber comprises a mixture of one or more rare-earth elements.

17. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 16 wherein the one or more rare-earth elements include one or more of Ytterbium, Erbium, Thulium, Holmium, Praseodymium, or Neodymium.

18. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 14 wherein the second optical fiber amplifier comprises at least one of a single-clad, double-clad, or multiple-clad fiber design.

19. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 18 wherein the second optical fiber amplifier comprises a polarization-maintaining fiber.

20. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 1 wherein the second optical amplifier comprises at least one of a rare-earth doped optical rod amplifier or a rare-earth doped optical disk amplifier.

21. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 1 wherein the reflective end comprises a spectral-domain reflectance filter.

22. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 21 wherein the spectral-domain reflectance filter comprises a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG).

23. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 21 wherein a reflectance spectrum of the spectral-domain reflectance filter is substantially matched to an output spectrum of the seed source.

24. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 1 wherein the amplitude modulator is adapted to perform spectral-domain transmission filtering of the seed signal.

25. The tunable pulsed laser source of claim 24 wherein a transmission spectrum of the amplitude modulator is substantially matched to an output spectrum of the seed source.

26. A method of providing one or more laser pulses, the method comprising:

providing a seed signal at a first port of an optical circulator;

transmitting the seed signal to the first side of an amplitude modulator;

transmitting the seed signal through the amplitude modulator to define a first pass through the amplitude modulator;

time-domain filtering the seed signal to provide a pulse, wherein time-domain filtering comprises modulating a drive signal for the amplitude modulator;

amplifying the pulse using a first optical amplifier;

frequency-domain filtering the amplified pulse to provide a spectrally filtered pulse;

transmitting the spectrally filtered pulse through the amplitude modulator to define a second pass through the amplitude modulator;

time-domain filtering the amplified spectrally filtered pulse to provide an intermediate pulse, wherein time-domain filtering comprises modulating the drive signal for the amplitude modulator; and

amplifying the intermediate pulse using a second optical amplifier.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the seed signal is a laser signal generated using an FBG-stabilized semiconductor laser.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein the amplitude modulator comprises a Mach-Zehnder interferometric amplitude modulator.

29. The method of claim 26 wherein the first optical amplifier comprises a double-pass optical fiber amplifier.

30. The method of claim 26 wherein frequency-domain filtering the amplified pulse comprises using a spectral-domain reflectance filter including a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG).

31. The method of claim 26 wherein the second optical amplifier comprises a single-pass optical fiber amplifier.

Assignments (9)