Patent · US Active

Method and apparatus for high-power, pulsed ring fiber oscillator

US8750339B1 · kind B1 · utility

1Cited by
42References
24Claims
0Family size

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Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 25, 2011
Grant dateJun 10, 2014
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 23, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01S3/09408
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A ring laser includes a large-core rare-earth-doped fiber ring-connected with a free-space path having an electro-optic switch, output coupler, and intracavity band-pass filter to enforce lasing operation in narrow wavelength range. In some cavity-dumped modes, the laser is configured in a similar manner, except that an output coupler is omitted since the optical power is extracted from the laser cavity by the electro-optic switch itself. The same laser can be configured to operate in Q-switched and/or cavity-dumping modes as well as in hybrid modes (e.g., partial Q-switch, followed by cavity dumping, or even CW). In some embodiments, the laser can be used as, or inject laser light into, a regenerative solid-state amplifier, or a Raman laser, or can be also used to generate visible, ultra-violet, mid-infrared, and far-infrared (THz) radiation via nonlinear wavelength conversion processes. The various embodiments can use a power oscillator or seed-plus-amplifier MOPA configuration.

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