Frequency quadrupled laser using thulium-doped fiber amplifier and method
US9684077B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 10, 2015 |
| Grant date | Jun 20, 2017 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 10, 2035 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S3/115
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An apparatus, method and associated fiber-laser architectures for high-power pulsed operation and pumping wavelength-conversion devices. Some embodiments generate blue laser light by frequency quadrupling infrared (IR) light from Tm-doped gain fiber using non-linear wavelength conversion. Some embodiments use a fiber MOPA configuration to amplify a seed signal from a semiconductor laser or ring fiber laser. Some embodiments use the frequency-quadrupled blue light for underwater communications, imaging, and/or object and anomaly detection. Some embodiments amplitude modulate the IR seed signal to encode communication data sent to or from a submarine once the modulated light has its wavelength quartered. Other embodiments transmit blue-light pulses in a scanned pattern and detect scattered light to measure distances to objects in a raster-scanned underwater volume, which in turn are used to generate a data structure representing a three-dimensional rendition of the underwater scene being imaged for viewing by a person or for other software analysis.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.