Method and apparatus for controlling the length of an optical cavity

A wave guide for controlling the output of an energy beam source, comprising;

• a body comprised of electro-optical material, said body having an input end for receiving an energy beam from the energy beam source, an output end for emitting an output energy beam, and a longitudinal axis;
• a plurality of electromagnetic fields coupled to said body;
• circuitry which alters an index of refraction along said longitudinal axis by altering a sub-plurality of said plurality of electromagnetic fields to change a cavity length of said body;
• and,
• a polarizer disposed with respect to said body output end to filter unwanted portions of a signal associated with said energy beam source.

A transmitter for use with a fiber optic telecommunications network, comprising:

• a semi-conductor optical gain device coupled to receive an input signal, said optical gain device producing a light signal corresponding to the input signal;
• a wave guide having an input end to receive the light signal from said optical gain device, said wave guide device comprising an electro-optical material;
• a plurality of electrodes in electromagnetic communication with said wave guide;
• circuitry which selectively drives a sub-set of said plurality of electrodes to alter an index of refraction of said wave guide to keep substantially constant a cavity length of said wave guide adjacent each electrode;
• and,
• structure for transmitting said beam to the telecommunications network.

An electro-optically tuned laser source with an athermal resonator comprising:

• a laser gain medium;
• an intracavity waveguide segment comprised of electro-optical material optically coupled to said laser gain medium;
• and,
• feedback circuitry for defining a resonant laser cavity including said gain medium and said intracavity waveguide segment, said feedback circuitry including, (i) a plurality of electrodes disposed along said intracavity waveguide segment, and (ii) drive circuitry which selectively energizes more than one of said plurality electrodes to tune a frequency of operation of a laser cavity of said resonator.

A method for controlling the output frequency of a laser, comprising the steps of:

• providing a laser gain medium;
• placing an intracavity waveguide segment comprised of electro-optical material in optical communication with, said laser gain medium;
• providing a feedback means for defining a resonant laser cavity, said resonant laser cavity including said gain medium and said intracavity waveguide segment, said feedback means comprising a plurality of electrodes disposed along said intracavity waveguide segment;
• and,
• selectably energizing a sub-plurality of said plurality of electrodes to tune a frequency of operation of said laser.

Computer readable storage media storing code which causes a host processor to control the output frequency of a laser assembly, the laser assembly comprising a laser gain medium optically coupled to a waveguide segment, the waveguide segment comprised of electro-optical material and a plurality of electrodes adjacent a surface of the waveguide segment, the code causing the host processor to:

• receive a required operating frequency of the laser assembly;
• measure an actual operating frequency of the laser assembly;
• receive data from a sensor, said sensor configured to measure the temperature of the laser assembly;
• selectably energizing a sub-set of the electrodes based on said data from said sensor, such that the actual operating frequency is substantially equal to the required operating frequency.

A method for controlling the optical length of a laser cavity comprising the steps of:

• providing a laser gain medium;
• placing an intracavity waveguide segment comprised of electro-optical material in optical communication with said laser gain medium;
• providing a plurality of electrodes disposed along a longitudinal axis of said intracavity wave guide segment;
• and,
• selectively energizing a predetermined first set of said electrodes to control the optical length of said laser cavity.