Abstract: The invention provides a method and system for transmitting very high bit rates over an optical link, using unidirectional and bidirectional WDM technology. The 1550 nm window for optical transmission is spatially separated into two bands, "Red" and "Blue", and the channels in each band are selected so that respective wavelengths present a substantially equal gain tilt. A fiber amplifier designed according to spatial separation and wavelength selection of the invention is disclosed, along with multiple span WDM network topologies.

Abstract: An equalizing apparatus for equalizing gains of wideband wavelength-division multiplexed light and for improving the S/N ratio comprises a plurality of optical amplifyer for optically amplifying light in different wavelength groups, respectively; and multiplexer for multiplexing optically amplified light from said plurality of optically amplifying means.

Abstract: The invention provides a method and system for transmitting very high bit rates over an optical link, using unidirectional and bidirectional WDM technology. The 1550 nm window for optical transmission is spatially separated into two bands, "Red" and "Blue", and the channels in each band are selected so that respective wavelengths present a substantially equal gain tilt. A fiber amplifier designed according to spatial separation and wavelength selection of the invention is disclosed, along with multiple span WDM network topologies.

Abstract: A wide band optical amplifier employing a split-band architecture in which an optical signal is split into several independent sub-bands which then pass in parallel through separate branches of the optical amplifier. Each branch may be optimized for the sub-band that traverses it. The independent sub-bands are combined before output, resulting in a broad band, high efficiency amplifier. Alternative, hybrid split-band amplifiers are described. As a result of their desirable characteristics, these wide band optical amplifiers may be used in dense WDM communications systems.

Abstract: An optical pulse amplifier includes: a first optical coupler, having first, second, third and fourth ports, for outputting an optical pulse incident onto the first port to the second and third ports, and for outputting the optical pulse re-incident from the second and third ports to the fourth port; a first grating connected to the second port of the first optical coupler for reflecting the incident optical pulse for each wavelength at a position satisfying the Bragg condition; a second grating, connected to the third port of the first optical coupler and having the same optical characteristics as the first grating, for reflecting the incident optical pulse for each wavelength at a position satisfying the Bragg condition; an optical amplifying portion, connected to the fourth port of the first optical coupler, for amplifying the optical pulse reflected by the first and second gratings and output by the fourth port of the first optical coupler; and a second optical coupler, having first, second, third and four

Abstract: An optical fiber amplifier which receives a primary laser beam and generates a coherent amplified laser beam, includes an optical isolator which transmits the primary laser, a 3-dB coupler which receives the primary laser beam, which generates first and second laser beams, which receives first and second amplified laser beams, and which combines the amplified laser beams to thereby produce the coherent amplified laser beam, a phase controller operatively connected in parallel with the 3-dB coupler which controls the phase of each of the amplified laser beams, and first and second fiber amplifiers operatively connected to the 3-dB coupler, the fiber amplifiers receiving first and second laser beams and generating the amplified laser beams, respectively. A high power coherent laser amplifier utilizing several optical fiber amplifier networks connected to one another in parallel is also described.

Abstract: An optical repeater is described which integrates an erbium doped optical fiber amplifier (EDFA) with a dispersion equalizer (DE) based on fiber gratings. The dispersion equalizer is based on parallel connection of two fiber gratings for single carrier wavelength operation, and on parallel connection of a cascade of two fibre grating branches, each carrying a plurality grating elements chirped for different wavelengths, for WDM operation at a plurality of wavelengths.The use of two gratings sections for each wavelength improves the optical bandwidth of the equalizer compared with single grating designs, doubling the effective bandwidth. Further, the grating DE is disposed between two fiber amplifier sections which share a single pump laser. Thus, this arrangement provides dispersion compensation and loss compensation in an optical repeater of lower cost, and smaller size, compared to a system of similar performance configured using discrete components.

Abstract: A light amplifier is constructed with only one multi-stage optical isolator so as to reduce the size thereof and to lower the fabrication cost thereof. The multi-stage optical isolator has two input ports and two output ports for cutting-off a reverse flow of a forwarding light when a following input light enters a first input port and when an output light enters a second input port. A source pump generates light used to amplify weak input light. A wavelength division multiplexer division-modulates wavelengths of the light generated by the source pump and the light forwarded through the multi-stage optical isolator. An optical fiber amplifies the light from the wavelength division multiplexer, and emits the amplified light through the first port of the multi-stage optical isolator.

Abstract: The invention provides a method and system for transmitting very high bit rates over an optical link, using unidirectional and bidirectional WDM technology. The 1550 nm window for optical transmission is spatially separated into two bands, "Red" and "Blue", and the channels in each band are selected so that respective wavelengths present a substantially equal gain tilt. A fiber amplifier designed according to spatial separation and wavelength selection of the invention is disclosed, along with multiple span WDM network topologies.

Abstract: An optical system is disclosed for improving the brightness symmetry of a beam emitted from a laser diode where the beam has a large width and a narrow height. The optical system includes a tilt plate for displacing one half of the width of the beam downwardly. A first beam steering prism functions to tilt the remaining, second half of the beam width in a plane parallel to the width dimension so that the second half travels towards the first half. A second beam steering prism is provided to tilt the second half of the beam so that its propagation axis is parallel to the propagation axis of the first half and wherein the second half is stacked above the first half. The optical system functions to improve the brightness symmetry of the beam by a factor of about five. The corrected beam can be used to improve the performance of a solid state laser which is end pumped by a broad area laser diode or a laser diode bar.

Abstract: A fiber-optic amplifier with reduced noise characteristics is provided. A polarization beam splitter/recombiner splits an input signal beam into two orthogonally polarized optical signals and recombines the separately treated signals. A phase controller compensates for optical path differences that result from dividing the input signal beam into two different paths. A wavelength division multiplexing coupler couples a pump laser beam with the input signal beam. A polarization maintained doped optical fiber amplifies the split optical signals while maintaining their original states of polarization. A linear polarizer rejects from each amplified split optical signal the noise with polarization orthogonal to the amplified signal. By suppressing such noise power, a portion of amplified spontaneous emission with polarization orthogonal to the signal is suppressed, thereby reducing the total output noise power.

Abstract: An optical system is disclosed for improving the brightness symmetry of a beam emitted from a laser diode where the beam has a large width and a narrow height. The optical system includes a tilt plate for displacing one half of the width of the beam downwardly. A first beam steering prism functions to tilt the remaining, second half of the beam width in a plane parallel to the width dimension so that the second half travels towards the first half. A second beam steering prism is provided to tilt the second half of the beam so that its propagation axis is parallel to the propagation axis of the first half and wherein the second half is stacked above the first half. The optical system functions to improve the brightness symmetry of the beam by a factor of about five. The corrected beam can be used to improve the performance of a solid state laser which is end pumped by a broad area laser diode or a laser diode bar.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a laser amplification system (1). The system (1) is constituted by a laser light source (2) for providing a main laser beam (LB); a laser light amplifier (3) for amplifying the main laser beam (LB) and apparatus for supplying a bleed laser beam (BO) to the laser radiation amplifier (3). The bleed laser beam (BO) is amplified by the laser radiation amplifier (3) at least when the main laser beam (LB) has a low or zero power valve substantially to prevent super-radiance.

Abstract: Tunable optical parametric amplifiers and oscillators that are pumped by the light from a tunable laser source are disclosed. One possible embodiment uses a tunable solid-state laser pump and an OPA medium or nonlinear crystal, such as potassium titanyl phosphate KTP or barium borate BBO or lithium borate LBO. The second harmonic output from a tunable solid-state laser is also used to pump the OPA medium. A singly or doubly resonant cavity design is preferably used to reduce the oscillation threshold (i.e., the required pump beam power) of the OPO.

Abstract: The optical amplifier device for an optical transmission system with bidirectional wavelength multiplex to a light transmission wave guide includes a first optical amplifier (OV1) for amplifying signals of a first wavelength (.lambda..sub.1) in a first direction; a second optical amplifier (OV2) for amplifying signals of a second wavelength (.lambda..sub.2) in a second direction; a first wavelength selective coupler (WDM1) connecting the input of the first optical amplifier (OV1) and the output of the second optical amplifier (OV2) with a light transmission wave guide (U) and a second wavelength selective coupler (WDM2) connecting the input of the second optical amplifier (OV2) and the output of the first optical amplifier (OV1) with the light transmission wave guide (U).

Abstract: Limiting quadratic processing and compansion in photorefractive two beam coupling is disclosed. Two-beam coupling in photorefractive barium titanate employs the imaged intensity of the signal to amplify the reference beam while maintaining the phase of the reference beam. The phase distorted signal beam is converted to that of the controlled phase of the reference beam. The high pump limit of amplification in this two-beam coupling device produces an amplitude compressed output to reduce multiplicative noise. Lost contrast of the image is thereafter restored. Beam clean-up of a non-intelligence bearing beam can be carried out by a similar process; a low pass filter consisting of a pinhole plate can be used in place of the second photorefractive crystal in the Fourier plane and only the planar wavefront portion will pass through the pinhole and may be collimated by a lens to provide a cleaned planar output beam.

Abstract: An optical system is disclosed for improving the brightness symmetry of a beam emitted from a laser diode where the beam has a large width and a narrow height. The optical system includes a tilt plate for displacing one half of the width of the beam downwardly. A first beam steering prism functions to tilt the remaining, second half of the beam width in a plane parallel to the width dimension so that the second half travels towards the first half. A second beam steering prism is provided to tilt the second half of the beam so that its propagation axis is parallel to the propagation axis of the first half and wherein the second half is stacked above the first half. The optical system functions to improve the brightness symmetry of the beam by a factor of about five. The corrected beam can be used to improve the performance of a solid state laser which is end pumped by a broad area laser diode or a laser diode bar.

Abstract: A system for recovering a clock from an optically encoded signal uses a mode-locked laser. A modulator is connected in common with the laser cavity of the laser and a transmission path applies the input optically encoded signal to the modulator. The modulator in response to the optically encoded signal modulates the phase and/or amplitude of light in the laser cavity thereby locking the phase and frequency of an output pulse stream to the timing wave of the optically encoded signal. In a preferred example, the modulator is a non-linear optical modulator used for cross-phase modulation (XPM) of the light in the laser cavity.

Abstract: The invention provides an optical transmission method and apparatus suitable for use with a terminal station apparatus for an optical communication system for a very long distance of up to several thousands kilometers across an ocean as well as an optical amplification method and apparatus suitable for use with a repeater for an optical communication system. The methods and apparatus are improved in that the excessive loss in an optical amplifier and the variation of the branching ratio are suppressed to suppress the variation of the gain to suppress the polarization dependency of the loss or the gain on a transmission line of the optical communication system. The optical transmission apparatus comprises a depolarized light source for outputting depolarized light, and an external modulator for modulating light from the depolarized light source.

Abstract: In an optical relay amplifier of the present invention, an inputted signal optical is divided into a plurality of lights by the first optical coupler. One of the divided inputted signal lights is amplified by an optical amplifier, the other inputted signal light is made to pass through a bypass optical waveguide path provided. The amplified light from the optical amplifier is coupled with the light that has passed through the bypass optical waveguide path by a second optical coupler, and the optical amplifier is a semiconductor laser amplifier including a V-shaped optical waveguide path and two end portions connected with the optical waveguide paths of the first and second optical couplers. A reflecting surface is formed in a returning end portion of the V-shaped optical waveguide path.

Abstract: The present invention provides an optical link amplifier which reduces the attenuation of the optical signal passing through optical an link amplifier so as to have a fail-safe function to ensure the communication path of an optical signal even if abnormality occurs at an optical amplifier, and an wavelength multiplex laser oscillator in which the spectrum width of the laser beam is narrow and coupling coefficient with an optical fiber is increased.

Abstract: A phased array of flared amplifiers fed by phase adjusters and a power splitter produces a single high power beam when the flared amplifier sections are aligned and closely spaced. In one embodiment the array is excited by a DBR laser integrated into the same substrate as the flared amplifiers. In another embodiment the array is self-excited and forms a laser between an edge of the substrate common to the power splitter and an edge of the substrate common to the flared amplifier.

Abstract: An optical communication system comprises: a plurality of optical communication apparatus for communicating signals by using a plurality of communicating lights having different wavelengths; an optical transmitter for transmitting a controlling light having a different wavelength than any of the plurality of wavelengths; an optical transmission line for interconnecting the optical transmitter and the optical communication apparatus to transmit the communicating lights and the controlling light; an optical amplifier for amplifying the communicating lights and the controlling light transmitted over the optical transmission line; and control circuit for discriminating the controlling light amplified by the optical amplifier from the communicating lights and controlling a gain of the optical amplifier to keep a light intensity of the controlling light at a constant level.

Abstract: Power laser includes a non-linear medium (NL1) within which a first beam of fixed direction (I1) and a second beam of orientable direction interfere with each other, an amplifying medium (2) placed along the direction of the first beam for amplifying the received light for transmitting an amplified beam towards the non-linear medium (NL1), which retransmits this bean in the direction of the second beam, and therefore in an orientable direction.

Abstract: In a multiwavelength lightwave communications system automatic self-power regulation on a channel-by-channel basis is achieved with a cascade of multiwavelength amplifier modules (200), wherein each multiwavelength amplifier module in the cascade includes a plurality of pump-shared parallel fiber amplifiers (208) operated in gain-saturation and connected between an optical demultiplexer (203) and multiplexer (209). An optional first gain stage (202) improves performance with higher optical signal-to-noise ratio. By self-regulating the power in each channel, the communications system is scalable, allowing the system to grow without deleterious effects due to power spread.

Abstract: An optical regenerative-repeater system according to the present invention includes an optical branch device for branching an input optical signal, a photodiode for converting an optical signal to an electric signal, a timing circuit for generating timing signal, and an optical latch circuit for latching an optical signal. A branched optical signal supplied from the optical branch device is converted to an electric signal by the photodiode. The timing circuit supplies a timing signal to the optical latch circuit in accordance with the electric signal supplied from the photodiode.

Abstract: A scanner comprises apparatus for scanning an image in a series of scanlines with a beam. Beam splitters split the modulated beam into a number of subsidiary beams which are fed to respective detectors. In one example (FIG. 2), a set of masks are provided to divide the subsidiary beam spatially such that different portions of the beams are fed to respective detectors. In another example (FIG. 4 ), a color filter splits the modulated beam into its respective color components and, after this beam has been split into subsidiary beams, the individual color components are filtered by filters and fed to detectors.

Abstract: A pulse compression and prepulse suppression apparatus (10) for time compressing the output of a laser (14). A pump pulse (46) is separated from a seed pulse (48) by a first polarized beam splitter (20) according to the orientation of a half wave plate (18). The seed pulse (48) is directed into an SBS oscillator (44) by two plane mirrors (22, 26) and a corner mirror (24), the corner mirror (24) being movable to adjust timing. The pump pulse (46) is directed into an SBS amplifier 34 wherein SBS occurs. The seed pulse (48), having been propagated from the SBS oscillator (44), is then directed through the SBS amplifier (34) wherein it sweeps the energy of the pump pulse (46) out of the SBS amplifier (34) and is simultaneously compressed, and the time compressed pump pulse (46) is emitted as a pulse output (52). A second polarized beam splitter (38) directs any undepleted pump pulse 58 away from the SBS oscillator (44).

Abstract: An apparatus and method for flattening the gain of an optical fiber amplifier (18) doped with an ion such as erbium and which is pumped by a pump laser (20). Optical couplers (32, 34) inserted before and after the fiber amplifier couple the main optical path to an optical ring passing through the fiber amplifier so as to form a ring laser. An optical isolator (32) placed in the ring causes the lasing light to only counterpropagate relative to the optical signal being amplified. When the fiber amplifier primarily exhibits inhomogeneous broadening and the ring lases, the lasing light clamps the gain to a value determined by the loop loss, and the value of the clamped gain is relatively uniform across a wide bandwidth.

Abstract: An apparatus comprising a continuous wave (CW) laser and a transverse electrode atmospheric (TEA) pulsed laser, the continuous wave laser and transverse electrode atmospheric pulsed laser each producing laser beams, the laser beams from each of the lasers being provided to an optical mixer for combing the two laser beams into an output beam. The output beam can be either laser beam individually, or a combined coaxial beam wherein the CW laser beam and TEA pulsed laser beam are superimposed on each other. Preferably, the two lasers are CO.sub.2 lasers. The CW laser can also be operated in a pulsed mode. The device is particularly useful for medical and surgical treatment and provides effects not possible before.

Abstract: A laser based accelerometer system uses small motion induced shifts in frequency to measure the motion of an object without contact thereof. This technique is particularly useful for determining the vibratory and velocity characteristics of objects that are otherwise inaccessible for direct motion measurement by contact sensors.

Abstract: A light amplifying device comprising an optical oscillator constituted by first and second reflective mirrors and a common reflective mirror disposed in an optically opposite relation to each other, a polarized beam splitter for making a laser beam incoming from the side of the common reflective mirror incident on the first or second reflective mirror, and for making laser beams incoming from the sides of the first and second reflective mirrors incident on the common mirror, first and second amplifying media disposed in optical paths of the respective laser beams for amplifying the laser beams, and an optical element for rotating the polarizing plane of the laser beam reflected by the common reflective mirror by a predetermined angle.