Compact coherent high brightness light source for the mid-IR and far IR
First Claim
1. An optical source producing an output at a wavelength>
- 5000 nm, comprising;
a mode locked fiber laser producing a primary output within the wavelength range from 1700-2300 nm;
a highly nonlinear waveguide receiving said primary output and shifting a least part of said primary output, thereby producing a secondary output shifted relative to said primary output; and
a nonlinear crystal configured for frequency generation at a difference frequency between said primary and secondary outputs, and producing an output at a wavelength>
5000 nm, said output having an average power>
100 μ
W.
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Abstract
Compact laser systems are disclosed which include ultrafast laser sources in combination with nonlinear crystals or waveguides. In some implementations fiber based mid-IR sources producing very short pulses and/or mid-IR sources based on a mode locked fiber lasers are utilized. A difference frequency generator receives outputs from the ultrafast sources, and generates an output including a difference frequency. The output power from the difference frequency generator can further be enhanced via the implementation of large core dispersion shifted fibers. Exemplary applications of the compact, high brightness mid-IR light sources include medical applications, spectroscopy, ranging, sensing and metrology.
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Citations
47 Claims
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1. An optical source producing an output at a wavelength>
- 5000 nm, comprising;
a mode locked fiber laser producing a primary output within the wavelength range from 1700-2300 nm; a highly nonlinear waveguide receiving said primary output and shifting a least part of said primary output, thereby producing a secondary output shifted relative to said primary output; and a nonlinear crystal configured for frequency generation at a difference frequency between said primary and secondary outputs, and producing an output at a wavelength>
5000 nm, said output having an average power>
100 μ
W. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 36, 37)
- 5000 nm, comprising;
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19. A source producing infrared pulses, comprising:
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a laser system producing short optical pulses; a nonlinear optical waveguide receiving said short optical pulses, said nonlinear waveguide spectrally broadening a short optical pulse in such a way as to produce, as an output from said nonlinear waveguide, at least two distal spectral regions within said broadened spectrum, and at least two corresponding short pulses in the time domain; and a difference frequency generator comprising a nonlinear crystal receiving said waveguide output and generating an output signal having an optical frequency that is a difference between a first optical frequency and a second optical frequency, said first optical frequency contained in a first of said two distal regions and said second optical frequency contained in a second of said two distal spectral regions; wherein the two pulses corresponding to the two distal spectral regions propagate essentially collinearly from the waveguide output to the nonlinear crystal input. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A dispersion shifted germanosilicate optical fiber, comprising:
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a cladding; a core within said cladding and having a diameter larger than 10 μ
m and a germanium concentration>
10 mole %; anda zero dispersion wavelength longer than 1400 nm. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
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38. A source producing infrared pulses in the 2000 nm spectral region, comprising:
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a laser system producing short optical pulses; a nonlinear optical waveguide receiving said short optical pulses, said nonlinear waveguide spectrally broadening a short optical pulse in such a way as to produce, as an output from said nonlinear waveguide, at least two distal spectral regions within said broadened spectrum, and at least two corresponding short pulses in the time domain; a difference frequency generator comprising a nonlinear crystal receiving said waveguide output and generating an output signal having an optical frequency that is a difference between a first optical frequency and a second optical frequency, said first optical frequency contained in a first of said two distal regions and said second optical frequency contained in a second of said two distal spectral regions; and a group delay adjustment stage allowing adjustment of the group delay between the two distal spectral regions to ensure temporal overlap of the two pulses corresponding to said spectral regions, at least during propagation of the two pulses in the non-linear crystal of said difference frequency generator. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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Specification