Dispersion compensated fiber Raman oscillator
AssigneeSpectra-Physics, Inc.
InventorsJames D. Kafka, Thomas M. Baer, David F. Head
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A dispersion compensation delay line is added to a synchronously pumped fiber Raman ring oscillator to generate subpicosecond pulses. A pair of spaced gratings form the delay line. An interference filter is used as a bandwidth limiting tuning element to provide a good quality short pulse. An integrated design eliminates the discrete optical elements by using only an optical fiber and an optical fiber coupler.
Claims19
A dispersion compensated fiber Raman oscillator for producing short pulses at any wavelength, comprising:
- a synchronous pumping source;
- an optical fiber optically aligned with the pumping source;
- dispersion compensating delay means optically aligned with the fiber to allow short pulses of any wavelength to be received from the fiber;
- ring configuration means for recirculating and passing optical pulses back through the fiber;
- input coupling means;
- said synchronous pumping source being aligned with said input coupling means to input pumping pulses to the optical fiber;
- output coupling means;
- the optical fiber, dispersion compensating delay means, ring configuration means, input coupling means, and output coupling means being arranged in an oscillator configuration;
- said oscillator configuration further includes:
- a band width tuning means for tuning a range of wavelengths to provide good pulse quality and short pulse width, a temporal delay means for varying the path length in the oscillator configuration to thereby produce subpicosecond pulses.
A method of producing short pulses down to subpicosecond pulse widths at any color in a fiber Raman oscillator, comprising:
- synchronously pumping the fiber Raman oscillator;
- producing a compensating dispersive delay in the oscillator to compensate for pulsebroadening in the fiber.
An integrated fiber Raman oscillator for producing short pulsewidths at any color, comprising:
- an optical fiber;
- an optical fiber coupler having first and second inputs and first and second outputs, the optical fiber being connected between the first output and the second input to form a loop, the coupler providing strong coupling of Raman pulses between the second input and first output to form a continuous loop;
- a synchronous pumping source for inputing pumping pulses through the first input into the optical fiber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.