Laser pulse synthesis system
First Claim
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1. A method of using a laser system, the method comprising:
- (a) emitting at least one laser pulse;
(b) shaping the pulse with a phase-only modulator;
(c) separating the pulse into at least two replica subpulses by using a phase in the modulator that interacts with at least two frequency subsets of the pulse, each subset representing a pulse;
(d) measuring a characteristic induced by at least one of the subpulses after step (c);
(e) supplying a linear pulse function to only some pixels of the modulator for at least one of the subpulses; and
(f) supplying a different phase function to other of the pixels of the modulator for at least another of the subpulses, simultaneously with step (e).
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Abstract
A laser pulse synthesis system is provided. A further aspect of the present system uses a phase-only modulator to measure ultrashort laser pulses. An additional aspect achieves interferences between split subpulses even though the subpulses have different frequencies. Yet another aspect of a laser system employs multi-comb phase shaping of a laser pulse. In another aspect, a laser system includes pulse characterization and arbitrary or variable waveform generation through spectral phase comb shaping.
252 Citations
56 Claims
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1. A method of using a laser system, the method comprising:
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(a) emitting at least one laser pulse; (b) shaping the pulse with a phase-only modulator; (c) separating the pulse into at least two replica subpulses by using a phase in the modulator that interacts with at least two frequency subsets of the pulse, each subset representing a pulse; (d) measuring a characteristic induced by at least one of the subpulses after step (c); (e) supplying a linear pulse function to only some pixels of the modulator for at least one of the subpulses; and (f) supplying a different phase function to other of the pixels of the modulator for at least another of the subpulses, simultaneously with step (e). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 54, 55)
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7. A method of using a laser system comprising:
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(a) separating a laser pulse into at least two subpulses in time but not in space; (b) independently shaping each of the subpulses using different chirp functions in a piecewise manner, performing the shaping of the subpulses with a phase-only modulator; (c) supplying a first shaping function to some pixels of the modulator for the one of the subpulses; and (d) supplying a second and different shaping function to some pixels of the modulator for at least a second of the subpulses. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 56)
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14. A method of using a laser system comprising:
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(a) separating a laser pulse into at least two subpulses in time but not in space; (b) independently shaping each of the subpulses using different chirp functions in a piecewise manner; and (c) characterizing the laser pulse in which the phase of an input pulse to an amplifier is shaped to enable measuring of the output pulse using a spectrometer located substantially at a target, and without requiring mechanical movement of any optics during operation. - View Dependent Claims (15, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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16. A method of using a laser system, the method comprising:
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(a) generating and characterizing optical pulse trains where a spectral phase of every laser pulse in the train is independently controlled; (b) splitting a laser spectrum into at least two groups of frequencies distributed over an entire spectrum bandwidth; (c) adjusting the two groups of frequencies such that a desired amplitude and bandwidth for each subpulse is achieved; (d) imposing the desired phase mask on each of the subsets of frequencies; and (e) creating a piecewise phase function across the original spectrum to generate a desired pulse sequence. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of using a laser system, the method comprising:
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(a) emitting a laser pulse; (b) shaping the pulse; (c) splitting the pulse into subpulses being of identical duration to the original pulse except having different frequencies; (d) causing nonlinear optical interference between the subpulses, and changing the interference with a pulse shaper and without mechanical component movement; and (e) measuring interferometric correlation between the subpulses. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of using a laser system, the method comprising:
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(a) emitting at least one original laser pulse, each having a duration of less than 1 picosecond; (b) shaping the original laser pulse with at least two distinct phase functions; (c) using each phase function to sample available spectral bandwidth of the original pulse; (d) creating pulse replicas, each having the same pulse duration as the original pulse; (e) controlling the replica pulses by distributing each of the phase functions across the spectrum of the associated pulse; (f) creating an additional reference pulse with a pulse shaper and software instructions; and (g) causing the reference pulse to scan across a pulse sequence to provide a cross-correlation of the sequence. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A method of using a laser system, the method comprising:
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(a) emitting at least one original laser pulse, each having a duration of less than 1 picosecond; (b) introducing at least two distinct phase functions by pulse shaping; (c) creating pulse replicas, each having the same pulse duration as the original pulse; (d) distributing each phase function across the spectrum of the associated pulse; (e) encoding pulse sequences with information; (f) detecting the pulse sequences based on a nonlinear optical process; (g) creating an additional reference pulse; and (h) causing the reference pulse to scan across a pulse sequence to provide a cross-correlation of the sequence. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49)
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Specification