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US 11,616,340 B2Granted
Methods and systems to generate laser light
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorDouglas Raymond Dykaar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There is provided a method of operating a laser. The method comprises receiving a target power and calculating an operating power of a lasing module of the laser. The operating power may be calculated based on the target power and a minimum lasing power of the lasing module. The method also comprises determining an operating current for the lasing module based on the operating power, and driving the lasing module at the operating current to produce an output light having the operating power. In addition, the method comprises providing the output light to an optical modulator of the laser, and operating the optical modulator to modulate the output light to have an output power corresponding to the target power.
Claims15
A method of operating a laser, the method comprising:
- receiving a target power;
- calculating an operating power of a lasing module of the laser, the lasing module comprising an optical resonance cavity and a gain medium optically coupled with the optical resonance cavity, and the operating power calculated based on the target power and a minimum lasing power of the lasing module;
- determining an operating current for the lasing module based on the operating power;
- driving the lasing module at the operating current to produce an output light having the operating power;
- providing the output light to an optical modulator of the laser, the optical modulator comprising a semiconductor optical amplifier disposed outside the optical resonance cavity;
- and
- operating the optical modulator to modulate the output light to have an output power corresponding to the target power, wherein operating the optical modulator comprises at least one of:
- operating the optical modulator to attenuate the operating power to provide the target power by biasing the semiconductor optical amplifier to absorb some of the output light, wherein the biasing the semiconductor optical amplifier to absorb some of the output light comprises one of biasing the semiconductor optical amplifier at zero or reverse biasing the semiconductor optical amplifier;
- operating the optical modulator to amplify the operating power to provide the target power by biasing the semiconductor optical amplifier to emit light when stimulated by the output light of the lasing module;
- or
- biasing the semiconductor optical amplifier to be about transparent to the output light of the lasing module.
8 more elements
A method of operating a laser, the method comprising:
- receiving a target power, wherein the target power represents an intensity of a color of a pixel of an image;
- calculating an operating power of a lasing module of the laser, the operating power calculated based on the target power and a minimum lasing power of the lasing module;
- determining an operating current for the lasing module based on the operating power;
- driving the lasing module at the operating current to produce an output light having the operating power;
- providing the output light to an optical modulator of the laser;
- operating the optical modulator to modulate the output light to have an output power corresponding to the target power;
- projecting the output light onto a display element of a wearable heads-up display to form a portion of the image;
- receiving a temperature of the display element;
- and
- operating a wavelength selection module of the laser to set a wavelength of the output light of the lasing module based on the temperature.
7 more elements
A system to generate laser light, the system comprising:
- a lasing module comprising an optical resonance cavity and a gain medium optically coupled with the optical resonance cavity;
- an optical modulator positioned to receive an output light generated by the lasing module,
- wherein the output light is to be projected onto a display element of a wearable heads-up display to form a portion of an image;
- a wavelength selection module to set a wavelength of the output light;
- and
- a controller in communication with the lasing module, the wavelength selection module, and the optical modulator, the controller to:
- receive a target power representing an intensity of a color of a pixel of the image;
- calculate an operating power of the lasing module based on the target power and a minimum lasing power of the lasing module;
- determine an operating current for the lasing module based on the operating power;
- drive the lasing module at the operating current to produce the output light having the operating power;
- receive a temperature of the display element;
- operate the optical modulator to modulate the output light to have an output power corresponding to the target power;
- and
- operate the wavelength selection module to set the wavelength of the output light based on the temperature.
11 more elements
A system to generate laser light, the system comprising:
- a lasing module comprising an optical resonance cavity and a gain medium optically coupled with the optical resonance cavity;
- an optical modulator positioned to receive an output light generated by the lasing module;
- a wavelength selection module to set a wavelength of the output light and comprising a tuneable Bragg reflector disposed in the optical resonance cavity;
- and
- a controller in communication with the lasing module, the wavelength selection module, and the optical modulator, the controller to:
- receive a target power;
- calculate an operating power of the lasing module based on the target power and a minimum lasing power of the lasing module;
- determine an operating current for the lasing module based on the operating power;
- drive the lasing module at the operating current to produce the output light having the operating power;
- operate the wavelength selection module to set the wavelength of the output light of the lasing module to be about equal to a target wavelength;
- and
- operate the optical modulator to modulate the output light to have an output power corresponding to the target power.
9 more elements
A system to generate laser light, the system comprising:
- a lasing module comprising an optical resonance cavity and a gain medium optically coupled with the optical resonance cavity;
- an optical modulator positioned to receive an output light generated by the lasing module;
- a spatial modulator to receive the output light from the optical modulator;
- a display element to receive the output light from the spatial modulator;
- and
- a controller in communication with the lasing module, the optical modulator, and the spatial modulator, the controller to:
- receive a target power;
- calculate an operating power of the lasing module based on the target power and a minimum lasing power of the lasing module;
- determine an operating current for the lasing module based on the operating power;
- drive the lasing module at the operating current to produce the output light having the operating power;
- and
- operate the optical modulator to modulate the output light to have an output power corresponding to the target power.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.