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US 8,009,705 B2Granted
Fiber MOPA system without stimulated brillouin scattering
AssigneeMobius Photonics, Inc.
InventorsGregory L. Keaton, Manuel J. Leonardo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems for increasing the threshold for stimulated Brillouin scattering are described. A seed source may generate one or more chirped seed pulses characterized by a pulse duration τ, and a frequency chirp. The pulse duration τ may be greater than about 2 nanoseconds. A photonic crystal amplifier amplifies the seed pulses to produce one or more amplified pulses characterized by a peak power P greater than about 1 kilowatt. The pulse duration τ, frequency chirp, and the photonic crystal fiber may be selected such that a threshold for stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in the photonic crystal fiber is greater than the peak power P.
Claims41
A method for generating a pulsed optical signal, comprising:
- generating one or more chirped input pulses with a laser seed source by pulsing a drive current applied to a semiconductor diode laser with square current pulses characterized by a repetition rate between about 50 kilohertz and about 100 Megahertz and a duty cycle of less than about 5%, wherein the input pulses are characterized by a pulse duration τ and a frequency chirp wherein τ is greater than about 2 nanoseconds;
- optically coupling the one or more chirped input pulses from the laser seed source into a photonic crystal fiber optical amplifier;
- and
- amplifying the input pulses with the photonic crystal fiber optical amplifier to produce one or more amplified pulses characterized by a peak power P greater than about 1 kilowatt,
- wherein the frequency chirp and the photonic crystal fiber are selected such that a threshold for stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in the photonic crystal fiber is greater than the peak power P, wherein pulsing the drive current increases a chirp rate of the frequency chirp by an amount sufficient to raise the threshold for SBS of the optical amplifier above a peak power for the optical amplifier.
2 more elements
An apparatus for generating a pulsed optical signal, comprising:
- a laser seed source configured to generate one or more chirped seed pulses by pulsing a drive current applied to a semiconductor diode laser with square current pulses characterized by a repetition rate between about 50 kilohertz and about 100 Megahertz and a duty cycle of less than about 5%, wherein the one or more chirped seed pulses are characterized by a pulse duration τ and a frequency chirp, wherein τ is greater than about 2 nanoseconds;
- and
- a photonic crystal fiber optical amplifier optically coupled to the laser seed source, wherein the photonic crystal fiber optical amplifier is configured to amplify input pulses based on the seed pulses and thereby produce one or more amplified pulses characterized by a peak power P greater than about 1 kilowatt,
- wherein the frequency chirp and the photonic crystal fiber are selected such that a threshold for stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in the photonic crystal fiber is greater than the peak power P, wherein pulsing the drive current increases a chirp rate of the frequency chirp by an amount sufficient to raise the threshold for SBS of the optical amplifier above a peak power for the optical amplifier.
1 more element
A method for generating a pulsed optical signal, comprising:
- generating one or more chirped input pulses by pulsing a drive current applied to a semiconductor diode laser with square current pulses characterized by a repetition rate between about 50 kilohertz and about 100 Megahertz and a duty cycle of less than about 5%, wherein the one or more chirped seed pulses are, wherein the input pulses are characterized by a characteristic vacuum wavelength λ, a spectral linewidth δf, a pulse duration τ, frequency shift Δf and frequency shift rate Δf/Δt, wherein τ is greater than about 2 nanoseconds;
- and
- amplifying the input pulses with a photonic crystal fiber optical amplifier to produce one or more amplified pulses characterized by a peak power P greater than about 1 kilowatt, wherein λ, δf, τ, Δf, Δf/Δt and the photonic crystal fiber are selected such that a threshold for stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in the photonic crystal fiber is greater than the peak power P.
An apparatus for generating a pulsed optical signal, comprising:
- a laser seed source configured to generate one or more chirped seed pulses by pulsing a drive current applied to a semiconductor diode laser with square current pulses characterized by a repetition rate between about 50 kilohertz and about 100 Megahertz and a duty cycle of less than about 5%, wherein the one or more chirped seed pulses are characterized by a characteristic vacuum wavelength λ, a spectral linewidth δf, a pulse duration τ, frequency shift Δf and frequency shift rate Δf/Δt, wherein τ is greater than about 2 nanoseconds;
- and
- a photonic crystal fiber optical amplifier optically coupled to the laser seed source, wherein the photonic crystal fiber optical amplifier is configured to amplify input pulses based on the seed pulses and thereby produce one or more amplified pulses characterized by a peak power P greater than about 1 kilowatt,
- wherein λ, δf, τ, Δf, Δf/Δt and the photonic crystal fiber are selected such that a threshold for stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in the photonic crystal fiber is greater than the peak power P.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.