Patent · US Expired

Tunable pulsed narrow bandwidth light source

US6359914B1 · kind B1 · utility

16Cited by
7References
42Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 4, 1999
Grant dateMar 19, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 4, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG02F1/39
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A tunable pulsed narrow bandwidth light source and a method of operating a light source are provided. The light source includes a pump laser, first and second non-linear optical crystals, a tunable filter, and light pulse directing optics. The method includes the steps of operating the pump laser to generate a pulsed pump beam characterized by a nanosecond pulse duration and arranging the light pulse directing optics so as to (i) split the pulsed pump beam into primary and secondary pump beams; (ii) direct the primary pump beam through an input face of the first non-linear optical crystal such that a primary output beam exits from an output face of the first non-linear optical crystal; (iii) direct the primary output beam through the tunable filter to generate a sculpted seed beam; and direct the sculpted seed beam and the secondary pump beam through an input face of the second non-linear optical crystal such that a secondary output beam characterized by at least one spectral bandwidth on the order of about 0.1 cm−1 and below exits from an output face of the second non-linear optical crystal.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.