Polarized fiber laser source
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsFrancis X. D'Amato, deceased, Gary A. Ball, Gerald Meltz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A polarized fiber laser source includes a fiber laser 10 comprising a pair of Bragg gratings 14,16 at opposite ends of a fiber laser cavity 18 which is doped with a rare-earth dopant so as to allow lasing to occur at a lasing wavelength .lambda..sub.L. A grating tap 26 is provided along a portion of the laser cavity 18 to couple-out a predetermined amount of light along one polarization, e.g., the "s" polarization", at the lasing wavelength .lambda..sub.L. This causes one polarization mode to experience more loss than the other, thereby allowing the fiber laser to lase only on the less lossy polarization mode and causing the laser output light 40 to be polarized only along such polarization.
Claims13
A polarization controlled waveguide laser, comprising:
- a solid optical waveguide which propagates laser light having polarization components along a first polarization mode and along a second polarization mode;
- a pair of reflective elements disposed a predetermined distance apart along said waveguide, each reflecting said laser light;
- a portion of said waveguide between said reflective elements being a gain medium;
- one of said reflective elements passing a predetermined amount of said laser light as a laser output light;
- and
- a grating tap having a predetermined angle and grating spacing such that a predetermined amount of said laser light along said first polarization mode is coupled out of said waveguide so as to cause sufficient loss along said first polarization mode to not allow lasing to occur along said first polarization mode and such that a sufficient amount of said laser light along said second polarization mode is not coupled out of said waveguide so as to allow lasing to be sustained along said second polarization mode, thereby causing said output light to be polarized only along said second polarization mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.