Tunable laser assembly
AssigneeThorlabs Quantum Electronics, Inc.
InventorsPeter S.J. HEIM, Alan DONALDSON, Jacob MERTZ, Robert ROCHE
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tunable laser assembly housed in a single enclosure and a method of control is described that provides high-speed monitoring and control of the spectral properties of widely tunable lasers, such as MEMS-tunable VCSELs, with an optical configuration that does not introduce perturbations into the swept-source laser output spectrum that would cause artifacts in imaging applications such as optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Claims36
A tunable laser assembly comprising:
- a tunable semiconductor laser emitting tunable laser radiation;
- a beam splitter;
- at least one wavelength monitoring optical element;
- at least one photodetector;
- a semiconductor optical amplifier;
- and
- at least one optical isolator;
- wherein the tunable semiconductor laser, the beam splitter, the at least one wavelength monitoring optical element, the at least one photodetector, the semiconductor amplifier, and the at least one optical isolator are mounted on a common baseplate;
- and wherein the at least one wavelength monitoring element generates a signal that is used to monitor at least one of the absolute wavelength and optical bandwidth of said tunable laser radiation.
A method for controlling the absolute wavelength and the optical bandwidth of a swept-source tunable laser that uses the timing information from a signal generated by a reference optical wavelength filter and an optical element that generates signal pulses corresponding to nearly equally spaced wavenumbers.
A stabilized laser comprising:
- a tunable semiconductor laser emitting tunable laser radiation;
- a beam splitter;
- at least one wavelength monitoring optical element;
- at least one photodetector;
- a semiconductor optical amplifier;
- at least one optical isolator;
- and
- a closed loop controller;
- wherein the tunable semiconductor laser, the beam splitter, the at least one wavelength monitoring optical element, the at least one photodetector, the semiconductor amplifier, and the at least one optical isolator are mounted on a common baseplate;
- and wherein the at least one wavelength monitoring optical element generates a signal that is input to the closed-loop controller and the closed-loop controller stabilizes the absolute wavelength and optical bandwidth of said tunable laser radiation.
-44. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.