Laser based frequency standards and their applications

• US 8,165,440 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2011
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IMRA America Incorporated (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: IMRA America Incorporated (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Hartl, Ingmar, Fermann, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lepisto, Ryan
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLEVINS, JERRY M
• Application Number:
  US13/028,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20110134943A1
• Time in Patent Office: 433 Days
• Field of Search: 385/122, 385/15, 385/126, 372/18, 372/29.023
• US Class Current: 385/122
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/3528 for producing a supercontinuum
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/3558 Poled materials, e.g. with periodic poling; Fabrication of domain inverted structures, e.g. for quasi-phase-matching [QPM]
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/365 in an optical waveguide structure G02F1/377, G02F1/395 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2203/56 Frequency comb synthesizer
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 2301/02 ASE (amplified spontaneous emission), noise; Reduction thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/067 Fibre lasers
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06716 Fibre compositions per se C03C13/04or doping with active elements lasing materials in general H01S3/14
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/1112 Passive mode locking

Abstract

Frequency standards based on mode-locked fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers and fiber-based ultra-broad bandwidth light sources, and applications of the same.

Claims

1. A source of phase-stable optical pulses, comprising;

a modelocked fiber laser;

a multi-core fiber amplifier comprising an array of individual fiber amplifiers arranged so as to amplify an output of said mode locked fiber laser, said individual amplifiers being configured to produce said individual outputs;

at least one phase sensor to detect the phase of outputs of said individual amplifiers; and

at least one phase stabilizer to stabilize the phase of said individual amplifiers, said stable phase being obtained at the output of said fiber amplifier array, said stable phase being characterized in that the relative phase fluctuations between individual amplifiers is smaller than 1 rad.

2. The source of phase-stable optical pulses according to claim 1, wherein a relative phase of said individual outputs is controlled to smaller than 0.1 rad with said phase stabilizer.

3. The source of phase-stable optical pulses according to claim 1, further comprising:

individual phase-adjusters operating on all but one of said individual amplifiers; and

an electronic control loop to lock the phase of said all but one individual amplifiers to the remaining individual amplifier, which is used as a reference for the electronic control loop.

4. The source of phase-stable optical pulses according to claim 1, further comprising:

a pulse stretcher disposed between said modelocked fiber laser and said multicore fiber amplifier, wherein stretched output pulses from said stretcher are spatially split into multiple beams and delivered to individual fiber amplifiers of said multicore fiber amplifier; and

a pulse compressor disposed downstream from said multicore fiber amplifier, said compressor arranged in such a way as to receive stretched and amplified output pulses from said individual amplifiers of said multicore fiber amplifier, and to compress said stretched and amplified pulses received therefrom.