Ultra-Fast Laser System
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Accused Products
Abstract
A laser system is provided which selectively excites Raman active vibrations in molecules. In another aspect of the present invention, the system includes a laser, pulse shaper and detection device. A further aspect of the present invention employs a femtosecond laser and binary pulse shaping (BPS). Still another aspect of the present invention uses a laser beam pulse, a pulse shaper and remote sensing.
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Citations
129 Claims
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1-28. -28. (canceled)
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29. A system comprising:
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(a) a laser operable to emit a first femtosecond laser pulse; (b) a pulse shaper operable to correct phase distortions in a path of the pulse and optimized to cause selective stimulated Raman scattering at a specific molecular bond frequency and not at other undesired frequencies; (c) a second narrower-bandwidth pulse detuned from the first pulse carrying a probe photon, the second pulse being delayed from the first pulse by less than about 10 picoseconds; and (d) a detector operable to detect characteristics of a specimen caused by at least one of the pulses striking a specimen, the laser and detector being remotely located relative to the specimen. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 48)
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33. (canceled)
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39. (canceled)
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42-43. -43. (canceled)
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46. A system comprising:
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a first laser beam pulse of less than about 51 femtosecond duration including at least one of;
(i) a pump photon and (ii) a Stokes photon; anda second laser beam pulse having a narrower bandwidth and different color than the first pulse, the first pulse carrying a spectral phase function optimized to selectively excite a molecular bond frequency, and the second pulse being delayed in emission from the first pulse and further being operable to heterodyne the emitted signal. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 60)
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47. (canceled)
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51-52. -52. (canceled)
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57. (canceled)
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59. (canceled)
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61. An environmental monitoring system comprising:
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a femtosecond laser operable to emit a laser beam of less than about 51 femtosecond pulse duration upon a specimen; a pulse shaper operable to shape the laser beam pulse; and a computer automatically varying pulse shaping performance of the pulse shaper for subsequent laser beam emissions, the computer operably identifying Raman active vibration characteristics of the specimen. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65, 68, 70)
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62-63. -63. (canceled)
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66-67. -67. (canceled)
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69. (canceled)
- 71. A system for use with living tissue, the system comprising a laser beam pulse and a pulse shaper operable to change a characteristic of the pulse prior to emission of the pulse upon a molecule in the living tissue to selectively activate at least one Raman active characteristic of the molecule.
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74. (canceled)
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78. A system for use with blood, the system comprising a laser beam pulse and a device operable to change a characteristic of the pulse prior to the blood receiving the pulse, through use of at least one of:
- (a) multiphoton intrapulse interference and (b) binary phase shaping.
- View Dependent Claims (79, 80, 81, 82, 83)
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84. A system comprising:
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blood; an ultra-fast laser operably emitting a pulse of less than 51 femtosecond duration; a pulse shaper operably changing a characteristic of the pulse before the pulse strikes the blood; a detector operably sensing an excitation signature from the blood; and a controller operably identifying if any impurities are present in the blood based, at least in part, on the sensed excitation signature. - View Dependent Claims (85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 94)
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93. (canceled)
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95. A method of operating a laser system comprising:
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(a) emitting a laser beam pulse at a specimen; (b) varying the shape of the laser beam pulse with binary pulse shaping; (c) detecting a Raman active characteristic using the varied shape laser beam pulse; and (d) using substantially pseudorandom symmetrized phase functions to intentionally selectively excite one or more Raman modes and not others in the specimen. - View Dependent Claims (98, 99, 100)
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96-97. -97. (canceled)
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101. A method of monitoring an area, the method comprising:
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(a) emitting automatically varying shaped laser pulses at a specimen; (b) automatically comparing Raman active data detected at least in part by step (a) with Raman active data of acceptable background molecules; and (c) automatically identifying harmful molecules based, at least in part, on the Raman active data comparisons; wherein the emitting, analyzing, comparing and identifying steps are all automatically controlled and operated by a computer at a remote location at least 10 meters away from the specimen. - View Dependent Claims (102, 103, 104, 107)
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105-106. -106. (canceled)
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108-127. -127. (canceled)
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128. A method of using a laser system, the method comprising:
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(a) shaping a laser pulse; (b) emitting the shaped pulse through a telescope; and (c) automatically and actively correcting spectral phase distortion as a function of laser-to-target distance, temperature and density. - View Dependent Claims (129)
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Specification