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Method and apparatus for generating ultrashort pulses with adjustable repetition rates from passively modelocked fiber lasers

  • US 5,701,319 A
  • Filed: 10/20/1995
  • Issued: 12/23/1997
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/20/1995
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A passively modelocked laser comprising:

  • means for optical pumping of the modelocked laser;

    an optical cavity for adjusting the energy of said laser;

    means for initiating and sustaining the production of short optical pulses in said cavity;

    an optical fiber gain medium for transmitting said optical pulses, said optical pulses having a repetition rate of integer multiples of the fundamental cavity frequency;

    means for outputting laser energy from said cavity;

    means for maximizing the separation of said pulses inside the cavity, including at least one semiconductor saturable absorber with a carrier life time shorter than the fundamental cavity round-trip time and longer than one hundredth of the cavity round-trip time; and

    means for providing optical limiting in the cavity to minimize pulse amplitude fluctuations.

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