Device for amplifying light pulses

US8659821B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. · DE
• Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena · DE

Inventors

• Damian Schimpf · Cambridge, US
• Jens Limpert · Jena, DE
• Andreas Tuennermann · Jena, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 11, 2009
• Grant date: Feb 25, 2014
• Expiry date: Jan 8, 2030

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01S3/1068
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device (1, 11) for amplifying light pulses (2, 12), the device comprised of a stretcher (4, 14) which temporally stretches the light pulses (2, 12), and comprised of at least one amplifier (5, 15) which amplifies the stretched light pulses (2, 12), and comprised of a compressor (6, 16) which recompresses the stretched and amplified light pulses (2, 12), the stretcher (4, 14) and the compressor (6, 16) being dispersive elements with essentially oppositely identical dispersion. To provide a device (1, 11) for amplifying light pulses (2, 12) which is of a compact setup and which can be flexibly applied, the present invention proposes that the dispersion of the amplifier (5, 15), the dispersion of further optical elements of the device (1) and/or a mismatch of dispersion of the stretcher (4, 14) and compressor (6, 16) are at least partly compensated by self-phase modulation of the light pulses (2, 12) and/or by at least one additional element (17) of variable dispersion.