Broadband optical fiber laser

US4964131A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANDFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY · US

Inventors

• Karen Liu · Montclair, US
• Byoung Y. Kim · Menlo Park, US
• Michel J. F. Digonnet · Palo Alto, US
• Kenneth A. Fesler · Sunnyvale, US
• Herbert J. Shaw · Stanford, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 9, 1989
• Grant date: Oct 16, 1990
• Expiry date: Mar 9, 2009

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01S3/094003
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An optical fiber laser includes a single-mode optical fiber doped with a lasing material such as Neodymium. The optical fiber is pumped with a pump optical signal having a pump wavelength selected to cause spontaneous emission of an optical signal at a second wavelength different from the pump wavelength. The optical fiber is formed into a laser cavity such as by including a suitable reflector at each of the two ends of a suitable length of the optical fiber so that the emitted optical signal oscillates therein. One of the reflectors has a reflectivity at the wavelength of the emitted light so that most (e.g., approximately 95%) of the emitted light is reflected back into the laser cavity and a smaller portion (e.g, approximately 5%) is transmitted through the mirror as a laser output signal. Alternatively, the optical fiber can be formed into a ring laser structure using an optical coupler that couples a substantial portion (e.g., approximately 95%) of the emitted light back into the ring for recirculation therein and provides a smaller portion of the emitted light (e.g., approximately 5%) as a laser output signal. The wavelength of the pump optical signal is selected to be outsid…