Stepped etalon semiconductor laser wavelength locker
US6366592B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 25, 2000 |
| Grant date | Apr 2, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 25, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S5/0617
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A semiconductor tunable laser system includes a tunable Fabry-Perot cavity and a cavity length modulator, which controls an optical length of the cavity at least over a distance corresponding to the spacings between the longitudinal modes of the laser cavity. Thus, the tunable Fabry-Perot cavity allows the laser cavity to have gain at the desired wavelength of operation while the cavity length modulator tunes the cavity length such that a longitudinal cavity mode exists at the desired wavelength of operation. Also, in one embodiment, a wavelength locker system is further provides that has a differential wavelength filter, e.g., stepped etalon, and a multi-element detector, e.g., a quad-detector. The controller then modulators the Fabry-Perot cavity to control the wavelength in response to the signal received from the multi-element detector.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.