Wavelength-stabilized pump diodes for pumping gain media in an ultrashort pulsed laser system
First Claim
1. A system for optical amplification, comprising:
- one or more passively wavelength-stabilized pump diodes configured to generate pumping light;
a gain medium comprising a first portion and a second portion, the gain medium configured to receive into the first portion the pumping light near an absorption peak of the gain medium and amplify pulsed laser light coupled into the second portion of the gain medium to a high peak power; and
an output section configured to process the amplified pulsed laser light to result in an ultrashort athermally-ablative pulse of light.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In an optical amplifier, passively wavelength-stabilized pump diodes generate pumping light to excite a gain medium (e.g., rare-earth-ion doped optical fiber or solid-state optical amplifier) near an absorption peak of the gain medium. The gain medium amplifies a pulsed laser signal coupled into the gain medium to a high peak power with minimal non-linear distortion. The gain medium may include a portion configured to receive the pumping light and another portion configured to amplify the pulsed laser signal. A volume phase hologram device may passively wavelength stabilize the pump diodes by reflecting a portion of the pumping light back to the pump diodes. Passively wavelength-stabilizing the pump diodes improves power efficiency of the optical amplifier.
-
Citations
17 Claims
-
1. A system for optical amplification, comprising:
-
one or more passively wavelength-stabilized pump diodes configured to generate pumping light; a gain medium comprising a first portion and a second portion, the gain medium configured to receive into the first portion the pumping light near an absorption peak of the gain medium and amplify pulsed laser light coupled into the second portion of the gain medium to a high peak power; and an output section configured to process the amplified pulsed laser light to result in an ultrashort athermally-ablative pulse of light. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A pulse amplification system, comprising:
-
one or more pump diodes configured to generate a pumping light; a passive optical device configured to wavelength-stabilize the pumping light by reflecting a portion of the pumping light back to the one or more pump diodes; a laser seed source configured to generate an ultrashort pulsed signal; a pulse stretcher configured to stretch the ultrashort pulsed signal; a gain medium configured to amplify the stretched pulsed signal, the gain medium excited by the pumping light near an absorption peak of the gain medium; and an output stage configured to compress the amplified stretched pulsed signal to result in an ultrashort athermally-ablative pulse of light. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
-
-
17. A pulse amplification system, comprising:
-
one or more pump diodes configured to generate a pumping light; a passive optical device configured to wavelength-stabilize the pumping light using a portion of the pumping light back; a laser seed source configured to generate a pulsed signal; a pulse stretcher configured to stretch the pulsed signal to generate a stretched pulsed signal; a gain medium configured to amplify the stretched pulsed signal, the gain medium excited by the pumping light near an absorption peak of the gain medium; and a compression stage configured to compress the amplified stretched pulsed signal to generate a compressed pulse of light.
-
Specification