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US 11,329,447 B2Granted
Laser system
AssigneeM Squared Lasers Limited
InventorsGareth Thomas Maker, Stephen Webster
Life of this patent
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AssigneeM Squared Lasers Limited
InventorsGareth Thomas Maker, Stephen Webster
Estimating the term…
A laser system comprising two phase-locked solid-state laser sources is described. The laser system can be phase-locked at a predetermined offset between the operating frequencies of the lasers. This is achieved with high precision while exhibiting both low noise and high agility around the predetermined offset frequency. A pulse generator can be employed to generate a series of optical pulses from the laser system, the number, duration and shape of which can all be selected by a user. A phase-lock feedback loop provides a means for predetermined frequency chirps and phase shifts to be introduced throughout a sequence of generated pulses. The laser system can be made highly automated. The above features render the laser system ideally suited for use within coherent control two-state quantum systems, for example atomic interferometry, gyroscopes, precision gravimeters gravity gradiometers and quantum information processing and in particular the generation and control of quantum bits.
A laser system (1) comprising a first continuous-wave laser source (2) that provides a first optical field (6) at a first operating frequency (fm), a second continuous-wave laser source (3) that provides a second optical field (7) at a second operating frequency (fs) at a first predetermined offset frequency (Δf1) from the first operating frequency, the first (6) and second optical fields (7) being combined to produce a combined continuous-wave optical field (25, 26), and a phase-lock feedback loop (30) that provides a means to phase-lock the second operating frequency (fs) to the first operating frequency (fm) from a first optical beat signal (25) produced by at least a first component of the combined continuous-wave optical field (25, 26), wherein the phase-lock feedback loop (30) comprises a first optical beat detector (29) that provides a means for converting the first optical beat signal (25) to a first electrical beat signal (47), a first reference signal generator (54) that provides a means for generating a first reference signal (52) at a second predetermined offset frequency (Δf2) from the first operating frequency (fm), a second reference signal generator (60) that provides a means for generating a second reference signal (53) at a frequency lower than the second predetermined offset frequency (Δf2) and a phase-lock feedback loop electrical circuit (49) that provides a means for generating a first error signal (65) from the first electrical beat signal (47), the first reference signal (52) and the second reference signal (53), the first error signal (65) being employed to control a feedback signal (66) for the second continuous-wave laser source (3) wherein the phase-lock feedback loop (30) further comprises a first analogue phase shifter (50) located between the first optical beat detector (29) and the phase-lock feedback loop electrical circuit (49) and an analogue output source (94) arranged to provide an analogue control signal (95) to the analogue phase shifter (50) to introduce a predetermined phase offset to the electrical beat signal (47).
A method of configuring a laser system (1) comprising a first continuous-wave optical field (6) having a first operating frequency (fm) and a second continuous-wave optical field (7) having a second operating frequency (fs), the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.