Apparatus and methods for altering a characteristic of a light-emitting device
AssigneePD-LD, Inc.
InventorsBoris Leonidovich Volodin, Vladimir Sinisa Ban
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus and methods for altering one or more spectral, spatial, or temporal characteristics of a light-emitting device are disclosed. Generally, such apparatus may include a volume Bragg grating (VBG) element that receives input light generated by a light-emitting device, conditions one or more characteristics of the input light, and causes the light-emitting device to generate light having the one or more characteristics of the conditioned light.
Claims20
Apparatus for altering a characteristic of a light-emitting device, the apparatus comprising:
- a light-emitting device having a gain medium;
- a folding reflector;
- a retro-reflector;
- a Bragg grating element having a peak wavelength;
- and
- rotation means for rotating the Bragg grating element and folding reflector,
- wherein the Bragg grating element receives a first portion of light emitted by the light-emitting device and redirects a second portion of light that is less than the first portion at an angle onto the folding reflector, the folding reflector redirects the second portion of light along a path to the retro-reflector, and the retro-reflector reflects the second portion of redirected light back along the path into the gain medium of the light-emitting device, thus causing the light-emitting device to operate at the peak wavelength of the Bragg grating element, and
- wherein rotation of the Bragg grating element and folding reflector continuously tunes the wavelength of light emitted by the light-emitting device.
Apparatus for altering a characteristic of a light-emitting device, the apparatus comprising:
- a light-emitting device having a gain medium;
- a folding reflector;
- a retro-reflector;
- a Bragg grating element having a peak wavelength and a non-zero diffraction order;
- and
- rotation means for rotating the Bragg grating element and folding reflector,
- wherein the Bragg grating element receives light emitted by the light-emitting device and redirects the received light at an angle onto the folding reflector, the folding reflector redirects the light along a path to the retro-reflector, and the retro-reflector reflects the redirected light back along the path into the gain medium of the light-emitting device, thus causing the light-emitting device to operate at the peak wavelength of the Bragg grating element, and
- wherein rotation of the Bragg grating element and folding reflector continuously tunes the wavelength of light emitted by the light-emitting device.
Apparatus for altering a characteristic of a light-emitting device, the apparatus comprising:
- a light-emitting device having a gain medium;
- a folding reflector;
- a retro-reflector;
- a volume Bragg grating having a peak wavelength and a Bragg plane within the volume Bragg grating;
- and
- rotation means for rotating the volume Bragg grating and folding reflector, wherein the Bragg plane within the volume Bragg grating and the folding reflector define a pivot point of the rotation means,
- wherein the Bragg plane within the volume Bragg grating receives light emitted by the light-emitting device and redirects the received light at an angle onto the folding reflector, the folding reflector redirects the light along a path to the retro-reflector, and the retro-reflector reflects the redirected light back along the path into the gain medium of the light-emitting device, thus causing the light-emitting device to operate at the peak wavelength of the Bragg grating element, and
- wherein rotation of the Bragg grating element and folding reflector continuously tunes the wavelength of light emitted by the light-emitting device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.