Microfluidic radial fiber laser utilizing an external polarizer to modulate its azimuthal intensity distribution

US8442078B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology · US

Inventors

• Alexander Stolyarov · Brookline, US
• Lei Wei · Longbeilingcun, CN
• Ofer Shapira · Herzliya, IL
• Fabien Sorin · Cambridge, US
• Yoel Fink · Cambridge, US
• John D. Joannopoulos · Belmont, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 12, 2011
• Grant date: May 14, 2013
• Expiry date: Dec 12, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01S3/094034
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The laser includes an optical fiber including a cavity containing a microfluidic gain medium bounded by a composite structure of alternating layers of high and low index materials forming an axially invariant, rotationally symmetric photonic bandgap cavity. The optical fiber also includes at least one microfluidic channel containing liquid crystal modulators in the fiber cladding extending in an axial direction and further includes a pair of electrodes flanking the microfluidic channel. An electrical potential across the pair of electrodes will rotate the liquid crystal molecules to rotate the linearly polarized state of light emitted from the cavity. An external linear polarizer is disposed around the fiber to modulate azimuthal laser intensity distribution.