Rapid optical delay scanning method and apparatus using time dependence of acousto-optic diffraction
AssigneeFastlite
InventorsRupert Huber, Olaf Schubert, Daniel Kaplan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and a system for scanning a time delay between a first ultrafast optical pulse of duration shorter than 10 ps and a second ultrafast optical pulse of duration shorter than 10 ps, wherein the second ultrafast pulse is submitted to an acousto-optic Bragg diffraction by an acoustic pulse in the bulk of an acousto-optic material and the delay scanning is produced by time variation of the acoustic pulse in the material.
Claims17
A method for scanning a time delay between successive first optical pulses of duration shorter than 10 ps and of a repetition rate larger than 1 MHz, and successive second optical pulses of duration shorter than 10 ps and of a repetition rate larger than 1 MHz, the method comprising:
- submitting the successive second optical pulses to a first acousto-optic Bragg diffraction by a single acoustic pulse traveling through the length of a bulk first acousto-optic material within a time T, a scan of the time delay being produced by a propagation of the acoustic pulse in said material during the time interval between the successive second pulses,
- wherein a full scan of the delay is obtained within the traveling time T.
An apparatus for scanning a time delay between successive first and second ultrafast optical pulses of duration shorter than 10 ps having a same repetition rate that is larger than 1 MHz, the apparatus comprising:
- a generator configured to generate an acoustic pulse containing acoustic frequencies matching optical frequencies of the optical pulses;
- an acousto-optic material in which the successive second ultrafast optical pulses are submitted to an acousto-optic Bragg diffraction by the acoustic pulse in a bulk of the acousto-optic material, delay scanning being produced by a propagation of the acoustic pulse in the material during a time interval between successive second pulses, the acousto-optic material and an acousto-optic geometry being configured to achieve approximate collinearity between the optical beam propagation direction of said second optical pulses and an acoustic beam propagation direction of the acoustic pulse;
- and
- a plurality of parallel optical paths of the second optical pulses having independent acousto-optic diffraction configurations, used sequentially in time to reduce or eliminate dead time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.