# US 2014/0153083 A1 · Rin reduced optical source for optical coherence tomography

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 2014/0153083 A1
- Document ID: US20140153083A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/690,655
- Filed: 2012-11-30
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2012-11-30
- Assignees: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Inventors: Farhad Hakimi; John D. Moores
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140153083A1

## CPC

- H01S 5/5063: {operating above threshold}
- G01B 9/02091: Tomographic interferometers, e.g. based on optical coherence
- H01S 5/5027: {Concatenated amplifiers, i.e. amplifiers in series or cascaded}
- H01S 2301/02: ASE (amplified spontaneous emission), noise; Reduction thereof
- H01S: DEVICES USING THE PROCESS OF LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION [LASER] TO AMPLIFY OR GENERATE LIGHT; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION IN WAVE RANGES OTHER THAN OPTICAL
- G01B: MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS

## Abstract

A relative intensity noise (RIN)-suppressed light source is provided that includes a light source that produces an incoming light. A semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) arrangement receives the incoming light and provides a significant reduction in the RIN as its output. The SOA arrangement includes one or more SOAs in saturation that behave like a high pass filter for the amplitude of the incoming light.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A relative intensity noise (RIN)-suppressed light source comprising:
a light source that produces an incoming light; and
a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) arrangement that receives the incoming light and provides a significant reduction in the RIN as its output, the cascaded SOA arrangement includes one or more SOAs in saturation that behave like a high pass filter for the amplitude of the incoming light.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The RIN-suppressed light source of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises a broadband light source.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The RIN-suppressed light source of claim 2, the broadband light source comprises erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) or superluminescent semiconductor diodes (SLDs).

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The RN-suppressed light source of claim 1, the SOA arrangement comprises a cascaded EDFA-SOA arrangement or cascaded SLD-SOA arrangement.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The RIN-suppressed light source of claim 1, the SOA arrangement comprises a cascaded EDFA-SOA-SOA arrangement or cascaded SLD-SOA-SOA arrangement.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The RIN-suppressed light source of claim 4, the cascaded EDFA-SOA arrangement or cascaded SLD-SOA arrangement comprises RIN-suppression of at least 12 dB.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The RIN-suppressed light source of claim 5, the cascaded EDFA-SOA-SOA arrangement or the cascaded SLD-SOA-SOA arrangement comprises RIN-suppression of at least 19.5 dB.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The RIN-suppressed light source of claim 1, the SOA arrangement dampens out the relevant amplitude fluctuations of the light source.

### Claim 9

A method of performing relative intensity noise (RIN) suppression comprising:
providing a light source that produces an incoming light; and
receiving the incoming light using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) arrangement that provides a significant reduction in the RIN as its output, the SOA cascaded arrangement includes one or more SOAs in saturation that behave like a high pass filter for the amplitude of the incoming light.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the light source comprises a broadband light source.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, the broadband light source comprises erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA).

### Claim 12 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, the SOA arrangement comprises a cascaded EDFA-SOA arrangement or cascaded SLD-SOA arrangement.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, the SOA arrangement comprises a cascaded EDFA-SOA-SOA arrangement or cascaded SLD-SOA-SOA arrangement.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, the cascaded EDFA-SOA arrangement or cascaded SLD-SOA arrangement comprises RIN-suppression of at least 12 dB.

### Claim 15 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, the cascaded EDFA-SOA-SOA arrangement or cascaded SLD-SOA-SOA arrangement comprises RIN-suppression of at least 19.5 dB.

### Claim 16 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, the SOA arrangement dampens out the relevant amplitude fluctuations of the light source.