System and method for high-power, pulsed ring fiber oscillator
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- providing a rare-earth doped first fiber gain medium;
configuring a ring optical signal path that extends through the first fiber gain medium;
Q-switching a ring signal laser beam in the ring optical signal path, wherein the Q-switched ring signal laser beam has a pulse repetition rate that is independent of the ring optical signal path'"'"'s length during normal operation of the Q-switching, and wherein the Q-switched ring signal laser beam has a first wavelength and propagates in the ring optical signal path in a first direction, wherein the Q-switching is one of a plurality of operational modes that are electrically switchable from one to another, and wherein the plurality of operational modes includes both a continuous-wave mode and a Q-switched mode;
extracting a first optical signal beam from the Q-switched ring signal laser beam in a free-space portion of the ring optical signal path;
separating from the free-space portion of the ring optical signal path at least a portion of any light counter-propagating in the ring optical signal path in a second direction other than the first direction, wherein the separating from the ring optical signal path is spatially separate from the extracting of the first optical signal beam; and
forcing a majority of the Q-switched ring signal laser beam to lase in the first direction around the ring optical signal path by reflecting at least a portion of any light separated from the ring optical signal path by the separating to propagate in the ring optical signal path in the first direction.
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Abstract
A ring laser includes a large-core rare-earth-doped fiber ring-connected with a free-space path having an electro-optic switch, output coupler, and intracavity band-pass filter to enforce lasing operation in narrow wavelength range. In some cavity-dumped modes, the laser is configured in a similar manner, except that an output coupler is omitted since the optical power is extracted from the laser cavity by the electro-optic switch itself. The same laser can be configured to operate in Q-switched and/or cavity-dumping modes as well as in hybrid modes (e.g., partial Q-switch, followed by cavity dumping, or even CW). In some embodiments, the laser can be used as, or inject laser light into, a regenerative solid-state amplifier, or a Raman laser, or can be also used to generate visible, ultra-violet, mid-infrared, and far-infrared (THz) radiation via nonlinear wavelength conversion processes. The various embodiments can use a power oscillator or seed-plus-amplifier MOPA configuration.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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providing a rare-earth doped first fiber gain medium; configuring a ring optical signal path that extends through the first fiber gain medium; Q-switching a ring signal laser beam in the ring optical signal path, wherein the Q-switched ring signal laser beam has a pulse repetition rate that is independent of the ring optical signal path'"'"'s length during normal operation of the Q-switching, and wherein the Q-switched ring signal laser beam has a first wavelength and propagates in the ring optical signal path in a first direction, wherein the Q-switching is one of a plurality of operational modes that are electrically switchable from one to another, and wherein the plurality of operational modes includes both a continuous-wave mode and a Q-switched mode; extracting a first optical signal beam from the Q-switched ring signal laser beam in a free-space portion of the ring optical signal path; separating from the free-space portion of the ring optical signal path at least a portion of any light counter-propagating in the ring optical signal path in a second direction other than the first direction, wherein the separating from the ring optical signal path is spatially separate from the extracting of the first optical signal beam; and forcing a majority of the Q-switched ring signal laser beam to lase in the first direction around the ring optical signal path by reflecting at least a portion of any light separated from the ring optical signal path by the separating to propagate in the ring optical signal path in the first direction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus comprising:
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a rare-earth doped first fiber gain medium; means for configuring a ring optical signal path that extends through the first fiber gain medium; means for Q-switching a signal laser beam in the ring optical signal path, wherein the Q-switched ring signal laser beam has a pulse repetition rate that is independent of the ring optical signal path'"'"'s length during normal operation of the means for Q-switching, and wherein the Q-switched ring signal laser beam has a first wavelength and propagates in the ring optical signal path in a first direction; means for extracting a first optical signal beam from the Q-switched ring signal laser beam outside of the first fiber gain medium in a free-space portion of the ring optical signal path; means for separating from the free-space portion of the ring optical signal path at least a portion of any light counter-propagating in the ring optical signal path in a second direction other than the first direction, wherein the means for separating is spatially separate from the means for extracting; and means for forcing the Q-switched ring signal laser beam to lase in a single first direction around the ring optical signal path, including means for reflecting, to propagate in the ring optical signal path in the single first direction, at least a portion of any light separated from the ring optical signal path by the means for separating, wherein the means for Q-switching is operable in one of a plurality of operational modes that are electrically switchable from one to another, and wherein the plurality of operational modes includes both a continuous-wave mode and a Q-switched mode. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus comprising:
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a ring laser that has an optical signal ring path and generates a Q-switched ring signal laser beam that propagates along the optical signal ring path in the ring laser, wherein the Q-switched ring signal laser beam has a pulse repetition rate that is independent of the optical signal ring path'"'"'s length during normal Q-switched mode, wherein the Q-switched ring signal laser beam has a first wavelength and propagates in the optical signal ring path in a first direction, wherein the ring laser includes a first optical fiber that forms a first portion of the optical signal ring path, and wherein the first optical fiber includes an optically-pumped rare-earth-doped gain-fiber section; first extraction optics configured to extract a first signal beam from the Q-switched ring signal laser beam in a free-space portion of the optical signal ring path; second extraction optics, separate from the first extraction optics, that separates from the optical signal ring path at least a portion of any light that counter-propagates in the free-space portion of the optical signal ring path in a second direction other than the first direction; and a first high-reflectivity mirror, wherein the first mirror is configured to reflect toward the first direction around the optical signal ring path at least a portion of any light separated from the optical signal ring path by the second extraction optics in order to control the Q-switched ring signal laser beam to lase in only the first direction around the optical signal ring path, wherein the ring laser operates in one of a plurality of operational modes that are electrically switchable from one to another, and wherein the plurality of operational modes includes both a continuous-wave mode and the Q-switched mode. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification