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US 10,855,048 B2Granted
Airy-beam optical swept source
AssigneeThe University of Hong Kong
InventorsKin Yip Kenneth Wong, Xiaoming Wei
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Abstract
Briefly, methods and/or systems, are described for a wavelength-dispersive mode-locked fiber-ring laser, which generates an Airy beam profile for stable optical pulses.
Claims14
An apparatus comprising:
- a fiber-ring laser that generates dispersed stable optical pulses, including a fiber-ring cavity comprising a gain medium configured to amplify the optical pulses, a positive-dispersion fiber, a negative-dispersion fiber, a first wave-modulator, and a polarization controller and filter, the gain medium being coupled with the positive-dispersion fiber at one end to receive output from the positive-dispersion fiber and coupled with the negative-dispersion fiber at another end to transmit the amplified optical pulses to the negative-dispersion fiber;
- a wavelength-dispersion fiber that further disperses stable optical pulses external to the fiber-ring laser;
- and
- a second wave-modulator that cubic phase modulates the dispersed stable optical pulses to generate an Airy beam profile.
1 more element
An optical transmission system apparatus comprising:
- a laser-driven pump-source of optical radiation coupled to a rare-earth doped gain medium as part of a fiber-ring cavity,
- wherein the laser-driven pump-source of optical radiation is capable of providing sufficient power to the fiber-ring cavity via a wavelength division multiplexer;
- wherein the fiber-ring cavity is capable of generating mode-locked partially-coherent optical pulses dispersed about an operating wavelength;
- wherein the fiber-ring cavity comprises:
- a wave-modulator and optical fiber elements capable of dispersing wavelength components of amplified mode-locked partially-coherent optical pulses;
- wherein a polarization-controller is capable of adjusting polarization rotation of the amplified, mode-locked, optical pulses;
- wherein a polarization-isolator is capable of filtering amplified, mode-locked, and polarization-adjusted optical pulses;
- wherein the amplified, mode-locked, and polarization-adjusted optical pulses are coupled to at least two optical elements external to the fiber-ring cavity;
- wherein a first external optical element comprises a wavelength-dispersive component and a second external optical element comprises a cubic phase mask;
- such that an Airy beam is to be produced, and
- wherein the gain medium is configured to amplify the optical pulses, the gain medium being coupled with a positive-dispersion fiber at one end to receive output from the positive-dispersion fiber and coupled with a negative-dispersion fiber at another end to transmit the amplified optical pulses to the negative-dispersion fiber.
8 more elements
A method comprising:
- injecting a fiber-ring cavity with sufficient power to initiate mode-locking optical pulse polarization in the fiber-ring cavity;
- adjusting the mode-locked optical pulse polarization in the fiber-ring cavity so as to generate stable optical pulses;
- wavelength-dispersing the generated stable optical pulses;
- and
- cubic phase modulating the optical pulses after being wavelength-dispersed to generate an Airy beam profile;
- wherein the fiber-ring cavity comprises a wave-modulator and a gain medium configured to amplify the optical pulses, the gain medium being coupled with a positive-dispersion fiber at one end to receive output from the positive-dispersion fiber and coupled with a negative-dispersion fiber at another end to transmit the amplified optical pulses to the negative-dispersion fiber.
3 more elements
An optical transmission method comprising:
- injecting a fiber-ring cavity comprising a wave-modulator with a pump-laser beam wherein the beam wavelengths correspond to the fiber-optic wavelength operating range supporting light transmission;
- amplifying the pump-laser beam via a fiber-optic rare-earth doped gain medium;
- providing the amplified pump-laser beam with sufficient power to initiate mode-locking in the fiber ring cavity, if coupled by a wavelength-division multiplexer, producing mode-locked optical pulses;
- adjusting and filtering the mode-locked optical pulse polarization;
- generating mode-locked, polarization-adjusted, optical pulses external to the fiber-ring cavity;
- dispersing wavelength components of the mode-locked, polarization-adjusted, optical pulses external to the fiber-ring cavity via a dispersion-compensating fiber or via a chirped-fiber Bragg-grating;
- transforming the wavelength-dispersed, mode-locked, polarization-adjusted, optical pulses external to the fiber-ring cavity via a cubic phase mask to a wavelength-dispersed, mode-locked, optical pulse, polarization-adjusted, Airy beam,
- wherein the gain medium is configured to amplify the optical pulses, the gain medium being coupled with a positive-dispersion fiber at one end to receive output from the positive-dispersion fiber and coupled with a negative-dispersion fiber at another end to transmit the amplified optical pulses to the negative-dispersion fiber.
5 more elements
The method of 10, wherein the beam wavelengths correspond to the fiber-optic wavelength operating range supporting light transmission comprise:
- near-infrared wavelengths in a range from approximately 900 nm to approximately 2000 nm.
The method of 10, wherein the providing the amplified pump-laser beam with sufficient power to initiate mode-locking in the fiber ring cavity, if coupled by the wavelength-division multiplexer, producing mode-locked optical pulses comprises:
- providing at least 200 mW of power from a laser-diode coupled to a single-mode fiber to generate mode-locking in the coupled fiber-ring cavity producing optical pulses with a repetition rate of approximately 9 MHz to 11 MHz.
The method of 10, wherein the transforming the wavelength-dispersed, mode-locked, polarization-adjusted, optical pulses external to the fiber-ring cavity comprises:
- applying a second harmonic generation process to reduce optical pulse wavelengths by approximately one-half.
The method or 10, wherein the transforming the wavelength-dispersed, mode-locked, polarization-adjusted, optical pulses external to the fiber-ring cavity comprises:
- applying an optical parametric amplification to reduce optical pulse wavelengths and amplify optical pulse intensities.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.