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US 10,707,837 B2Granted
Laser frequency chirping structures, methods, and applications
AssigneeAnalog Photonics LLC
InventorsChristopher Poulton, Matthew Byrd, Ehsan Hosseini, Erman Timurdogan, Michael Watts
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Abstract
Aspects of the present disclosure describe systems, methods, and structures including integrated laser systems that employ external chirping structures that may advantageously include phase shifters and/or one or more filters. Further aspects of the present disclosure describe systems, methods, and structures including laser systems that employ external chirping structures that may advantageously include optical phased arrays.
Claims24
A frequency chirping structure comprising:
- a laser for generating a beam of laser light;
- a phase shifter that shifts the phase of the laser light in response to an input voltage;
- and
- a driving circuit that generates the input voltage, wherein the generated input voltage varies as a function of time over a first time interval such that the phase of the laser light is shifted quadratically as a function of time;
- wherein the laser light is phase shifted by an amount based on samples of the input voltage selected according to sample times that are dynamically adjusted such that each of multiple consecutive intervals of time over which the phase shift amount is wrapped includes samples that span across a range that has a size of at least 2π.
2 more elements
A phase shifting structure comprising:
- a laser that generates laser light;
- a plurality of phase shifters, each individual one of the phase shifters configured to shift the phase of the laser light in response to an input voltage, wherein a time-dependent phase shift imparted in each individual phase shifter over a first time interval is substantially equal to a time-dependent phase shift imparted by each of the other individual phase shifters over the first time interval;
- a driving circuit that generates the input voltage;
- and
- an optical distribution network configured to optically connect the laser with an input of each individual one of the plurality of phase shifters;
- and
- an output optical combination network that receives phase shifted laser light output from each individual one of the plurality of phase shifters and combines the received light into a common output, wherein the substantially equal time-dependent phase shifts maintain an optical power of output light from the common output over the first time interval.
4 more elements
An optical structure comprising:
- a laser that outputs laser light;
- a frequency chirping structure external to the laser that receives the laser light and generates frequency chirped light exhibiting a frequency that varies substantially linearly as a function of time over a first time interval;
- a transmit aperture including phased array elements that emits the frequency chirped light into an interrogation area;
- a receive aperture including phased array elements that receives frequency chirped light backscattered from the interrogation area;
- and
- a coherent detector that receives frequency chirped light from the chirping structure and the received backscattered light for processing.
3 more elements
A method of providing a beam of electromagnetic radiation exhibiting a time-varying frequency, the method comprising:
- providing a first beam of electromagnetic radiation from a laser source;
- directing the first beam of electromagnetic radiation to a phase shifting device, said phase shifting device responsive to an input voltage;
- and
- applying a time varying input voltage to the phase shifting device such that a second beam of electromagnetic radiation output from the phase shifting device exhibits the time-varying frequency due to the phase of the first beam of electromagnetic radiation being shifted quadratically as a function of time over a first time interval;
- wherein the phase of the first beam of electromagnetic radiation is shifted by an amount based on samples of the input voltage selected according to sample times that are dynamically adjusted such that each of multiple consecutive intervals of time over which the phase shift amount is wrapped includes samples that span across a range that has a size of at least 2π.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.