Apparatus and method for the generation of high-power femtosecond pulses from a fiber amplifier
First Claim
1. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
- an optical source which generates signal light;
a nonlinear amplifier, having a nonlinear phase delay, which receives the signal light generated by said optical source; and
a frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said nonlinear amplifier, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof.
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Abstract
An apparatus generates femtosecond pulses from laser amplifiers by nonlinear frequency conversion. The implementation of nonlinear frequency-conversion allows the design of highly nonlinear amplifiers at a signal wavelength (SW), while still preserving a high-quality pulse at an approximately frequency-doubled wavelength (FDW). Nonlinear frequency-conversion also allows for limited wavelength tuning of the FDW. As an example, the output from a nonlinear fiber amplifier is frequency-converted. By controlling the polarization state in the nonlinear fiber amplifier and by operating in the soliton-supporting dispersion regime of the host glass, an efficient nonlinear pulse compression for the SW is obtained. The generated pulse width is optimized by utilizing soliton compression in the presence of the Raman-self-frequency shift in the nonlinear fiber amplifier at the SW. High-power pulses are obtained by employing fiber amplifiers with large core-diameters. The efficiency of the nonlinear fiber amplifier is optimized by using a double clad fiber (i.e., a fiber with a double-step refractive index profile) and by pumping light directly into the inner core of this fiber. Periodically poled LiNbO3 (PPLN) is used for efficient conversion of the SW to a FDW. The quality of the pulses at the FDW can further be improved by nonlinear frequency conversion of the compressed and Raman-shifted signal pulses at the SW. The use of Raman-shifting further increases the tuning range at the FDW. For applications in confocal microscopy, a special linear fiber amplifier is used.
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Citations
97 Claims
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1. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; a nonlinear amplifier, having a nonlinear phase delay, which receives the signal light generated by said optical source; and a frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said nonlinear amplifier, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates high power optical pulses; and a frequency converter which receives optical pulses produced by a nonlinear amplifier and which provides high-power optical pulses at a frequency-converted wavelength, wherein a spectral acceptance bandwidth of said frequency converter is smaller than an extent of the spectrum of the optical pulses from said optical source, and wherein said frequency converter converts energy from a portion of the spectrum of the optical pulses from said optical source that is greater than the spectral acceptance bandwidth into the spectral acceptance bandwidth. - View Dependent Claims (35)
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36. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; an amplifier which receives the signal light generated by said optical source; a nonlinear compressor which receives optical pulses produced by said nonlinear amplifier; and a periodically poled frequency converter which receives optical pulses compressed by said nonlinear compressor and which produces the high-power optical pulses at a frequency-converted wavelength.
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37. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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means for generating signal light; means for nonlinearly amplifying the signal light; and means for frequency converting optical pulses produced by said means for nonlinearly amplifying, said means for frequency converting producing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising the steps of:
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generating a signal light; nonlinearly amplifying the signal light to produce amplified optical pulses; and frequency converting the amplified optical pulses to produces the high-power optical pulses. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; a nonlinear fiber amplifier, having a nonlinear phase delay, which receives the signal light generated by said optical source;
a fiber pulse compressor disposed to compress the optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber amplifier;wherein the refractive index distribution of said pulse compressor is approximately invariant along the fiber length; and a frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber amplifier, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; a nonlinear fiber amplifier, having a nonlinear phase delay, which receives the signal light generated by said optical source, wherein said nonlinear amplifier comprises a multi-mode amplifier fiber, and wherein the signal light is predominantly launched into the fundamental mode of said multi-mode amplifier fiber; and a frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber amplifier, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63)
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64. An apparatus for generating optical pulses, comprising:
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a pulse laser source for generating signal light; a multi-mode fiber amplifier for amplifying the signal light predominately in a fundamental mode thereof; a means for Raman-shifting said fundamental mode; and frequency conversion means for frequency-converting at least a Raman-shifted fundamental mode output of said multi-mode fiber amplifier. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72)
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73. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one nonlinear fiber medium, having a nonlinear phase delay, which receives the signal light generated by said optical source; and
at least one fiber pulse compressor disposed to compress the optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber medium;wherein the refractive index distribution of said pulse compressor is approximately invariant along the fiber length; and a frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber medium, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 92, 93)
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74. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one fiber medium which receives the signal light generated by said optical source; and
at least one fiber pulse compressor disposed to compress the optical pulses output from said fiber medium;wherein the refractive index distribution of said pulse compressor is approximately invariant along the fiber length; and a frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said fiber medium, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof.
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75. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one nonlinear fiber amplifier, having a nonlinear phase delay, which receives the signal light generated by said optical source, and which incorporates at least one pulse compressor for compressing the amplified optical pulses; wherein the refractive index distribution of said pulse compressor is approximately invariant along the fiber length; and a frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber medium, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof. - View Dependent Claims (88, 89, 90, 91)
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76. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one nonlinear fiber amplifier, having a nonlinear phase delay, which receives the signal light generated by said optical source, and which incorporates at least one pulse compressor for compressing the amplified optical pulses and including at least one polarization maintaining portion; wherein the refractive index distribution of said pulse compressor is approximately invariant along the fiber length.
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77. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one nonlinear fiber medium, having a nonlinear phase delay, which receives the signal light generated by said optical source; and
at least one fiber pulse compressor disposed to compress the optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber medium, at least one of said nonlinear fiber medium and said fiber pulse compressor being polarization maintaining;wherein the refractive index distribution of said pulse compressor is approximately invariant along the fiber length.
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78. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one fiber amplifier which receives the signal light generated by said optical source; and
at least one fiber pulse compressor disposed to compress the optical pulses output from said fiber amplifier;wherein the refractive index distribution of said pulse compressor is approximately invariant along the fiber length; and a frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber medium, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof.
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79. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one fiber amplifier which receives the signal light generated by said optical source; and
at least one fiber pulse compressor disposed to compress the optical pulses output from said fiber amplifier, and being polarization maintaining;wherein the refractive index distribution of said pulse compressor is approximately invariant along the fiber length.
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80. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one fiber amplifier which receives the signal light generated by said optical source, including at least one integrated fiber pulse compressor disposed to compress the amplified optical pulses; wherein the refractive index distribution of said pulse compressor is approximately invariant along the fiber length; and a frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber medium, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof.
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81. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one fiber amplifier which receives the signal light generated by said optical source, including at least one integrated polarization maintaining pulse compressor disposed to compress the amplified optical pulses; wherein the refractive index distribution of said pulse compressor is approximately invariant along the fiber length.
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94. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one nonlinear fiber medium, having a nonlinear phase delay, which receives the signal light generated by said optical source; and
at least one fiber pulse compressor disposed to compress the optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber medium; anda frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber medium, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof.
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95. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one fiber medium which receives the signal light generated by said optical source; and
at least one fiber pulse compressor disposed to compress the optical pulses output from said fiber medium; anda frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said fiber medium, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof.
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96. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one nonlinear fiber amplifier, having a nonlinear phase delay, which receives the signal light generated by said optical source, and which incorporates at least one pulse compressor for compressing the amplified optical pulses; and a frequency converter which receives optical pulses output from said nonlinear fiber medium, said frequency converter providing the high-power optical pulses at an output thereof.
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97. An apparatus for generating high-power optical pulses, comprising:
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an optical source which generates signal light; at least one fiber amplifier which receives the signal light generated by said optical source, including at least one integrated polarization maintaining pulse compressor disposed to compress the amplified optical pulses.
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Specification