Ultrashort pulse laser system having a quickly tunable central wavelength
AssigneeRefined Laser Systems GmbH
InventorsMaximillian Brinkmann, Carsten Fallnich, Tim Hellwig
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a system and method for generating wavelength-tunable laser output pulses using parametric processes, wherein a simultaneous and tuned tuning of the pump pulse wavelength and repetition rate ensures a temporal overlap between pump and seed pulses in a parametric gain medium. Based on this parameter coupling, lasers with a wide tunable wavelength range can be obtained, which can be fully fiber-based and which are also suitable for modern nonlinear microscopy or fluorescence microscopy due to a particularly fast response.
Claims12
A system for generating laser pulses of variable wavelength, comprising:
- a pump pulse generator for generating pump pulses, wherein the pump pulse generator is a mode-locked pump pulse generator;
- an optical parametric amplification medium pumped by the pump pulse generator, which converts incoming pump pulses, stimulated by further seed pulses, into wavelength shifted signal pulses and idler pulses;
- and
- an optically dispersive element;
- wherein a wavelength of the pump pulses is adjustable either directly or by means of the repetition rate of the pump pulse generator, and wherein, in the event of a change of one of the repetition rate or the wavelength, the other one of the repetition rate or the wavelength simultaneously changes by means of the optically dispersive element in such a way that the pump pulses and the seed pulses temporally overlap in the optical parametric amplification medium.
A method for changing the wavelength of laser pulses using an optically parametric gain medium comprising at least the steps of:
- a) generation of pump pulses with defined wavelength and defined repetition rate by means of a mode-locked pump pulse generator,
- b) generation of seed pulses,
- c) superposition of the seed pulses and pump pulses in the optically parametric amplification medium,
- wherein in the event of one of the wavelength or the repetition rate of the pump pulse changing, the other one of the wavelength or the repetition rate changes by means of an optically dispersive element simultaneously in such a way that a temporal overlap of the pump pulse and seed pulses in the optically parametric amplification medium is effected.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.