Self starting, self mode-locked lasers
US5799025A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 27, 1997 |
| Grant date | Aug 25, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 27, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S3/0811
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A self starting, self mode-locked laser is disclosed that utilizea gain saturation lens and an optical Kerr lens to start and to sustain passive mode locking. The laser consists of a resonant cavity which has a saturable gain medium and an optical Kerr lens medium. The laser cavity is described such that the loss modulation induced by the gain saturation lens is cascaded to that of the optical Kerr lens to start the mode locking process, while the loss modulation of the Kerr lens maintains the mode locking. The self mode locking operation restores automatically without any additional induction mechanism, after the pump laser beam or the laser cavity is blocked and then unblocked. In a preferred embodiment, the laser includes a resonant cavity , a Ti:sapphire crystal which produces both the gain saturation lens and the optical Kerr lens, a prism pair for ultra-short pulse operation, and a slit for laser bandwidth control and wavelength tuning. This laser can produce stable pulses shorter than 100 femtosecond.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.