Abstract: A spectral beam combining system includes a plurality of input fibers and a prism having a curved input surface. The plurality of input fibers are attached to the curved input surface. The spectral beam combining system also includes an immersion grating defined on a second surface of the prism, a protective cap disposed over the immersion grating, and an output surface.

Abstract: A multispectral beam combiner includes a prism body having an output surface, a fiber entry block attached to the prism body, and a plurality of input fibers attached to the fiber entry block. Each of the plurality of input fibers is operable to support a different wavelength. The multispectral beam combiner also includes a collimator attached to the prism body. The collimator is operable to reflect and collimate light propagating from the fiber entry block. The multispectral beam combiner further includes an immersion grating operable to diffract light propagating from the collimator. The output surface of the prism body is operable to pass light propagating from the immersion grating.

Abstract: An apparatus for generating a set of spectral correlation coefficients of an input signal includes: a master laser configured to generate an optical frequency comb signal; a first optical modulator configured to modulate the optical frequency comb signal with an input signal to generate a plurality of spectral copies of the input signal; a dispersive element configured to delay the plurality of spectral copies of the input signal by a wavelength-dependent time delay; a second optical modulator configured to modulate the delayed plurality of spectral copies with a conjugate of the input signal; and an optical comb filter configured to integrate the conjugate modulated plurality of spectral copies of the input signal to generate a set of cyclic autocorrelation coefficients.

Abstract: A method for performing optical wavefront sensing includes providing an amplitude transmission mask having a light input side, a light output side, and an optical transmission axis passing from the light input side to the light output side. The amplitude transmission mask is characterized by a checkerboard pattern having a square unit cell of size ?. The method also includes directing an incident light field having a wavelength ? to be incident on the light input side and propagating the incident light field through the amplitude transmission mask. The method further includes producing a plurality of diffracted light fields on the light output side and detecting, at a detector disposed a distance L from the amplitude transmission mask, an interferogram associated with the plurality of diffracted light fields.

Abstract: A code acquisition module for a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) receiver includes: a Sparse Discrete Fourier transform (SDFT) module configured to perform an SDFT on a finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies comprising a preamble of a received DSSS frame to calculate Fourier coefficients for the finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies; a multiplier configured to multiply the Fourier coefficients for the finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies of the received DSSS frame by complex conjugate Fourier coefficients for the finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies to generate a cross-correlation of the received DSSS frame and the complex conjugate Fourier coefficients; and a filter module configured to input the cross-correlation and output a delay estimation for the received DSSS frame.

Abstract: A method for performing optical wavefront sensing includes providing an amplitude transmission mask having a light input side, a light output side, and an optical transmission axis passing from the light input side to the light output side. The amplitude transmission mask is characterized by a checkerboard pattern having a square unit cell of size ?. The method also includes directing an incident light field having a wavelength ? to be incident on the light input side and propagating the incident light field through the amplitude transmission mask. The method further includes producing a plurality of diffracted light fields on the light output side and detecting, at a detector disposed a distance L from the amplitude transmission mask, an interferogram associated with the plurality of diffracted light fields.

Abstract: A method for performing optical wavefront sensing includes providing an amplitude transmission mask having a light input side, a light output side, and an optical transmission axis passing from the light input side to the light output side. The amplitude transmission mask is characterized by a checkerboard pattern having a square unit cell of size ?. The method also includes directing an incident light field having a wavelength ? to be incident on the light input side and propagating the incident light field through the amplitude transmission mask. The method further includes producing a plurality of diffracted light fields on the light output side and detecting, at a detector disposed a distance L from the amplitude transmission mask, an interferogram associated with the plurality of diffracted light fields.

Abstract: A method for performing optical wavefront sensing includes providing an amplitude transmission mask having a light input side, a light output side, and an optical transmission axis passing from the light input side to the light output side. The amplitude transmission mask is characterized by a checkerboard pattern having a square unit cell of size ?. The method also includes directing an incident light field having a wavelength ? to be incident on the light input side and propagating the incident light field through the amplitude transmission mask. The method further includes producing a plurality of diffracted light fields on the light output side and detecting, at a detector disposed a distance L from the amplitude transmission mask, an interferogram associated with the plurality of diffracted light fields.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provides methods and systems for synthesizing optical signals with high frequency stability. Using a set of external optical signal manipulators and control systems, embodiments of the invention enhance the resolution of any frequency reference and thereby alleviates the needs for ultra-high-Q cavities in frequency-stable optical signal synthesis. The invention consequently improves the performance of any optical signal generator by a substantial margin, while maintaining the system complexity and power dissipation at levels comparable to the original systems.

Abstract: A method of measuring characteristics of a wavefront of an incident beam includes obtaining an interferogram associated with the incident beam passing through a transmission mask and Fourier transforming the interferogram to provide a frequency domain interferogram. The method also includes selecting a subset of harmonics from the frequency domain interferogram, individually inverse Fourier transforming each of the subset of harmonics to provide a set of spatial domain harmonics, and extracting a phase profile from each of the set of spatial domain harmonics. The method further includes removing phase discontinuities in the phase profile, rotating the phase profile, and reconstructing a phase front of the wavefront of the incident beam.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide apparatuses and methods for phase correlated seeding of parametric mixer and for generating coherent frequency combs. The parametric mixer may use two phase-correlated optical waves with different carrier frequencies to generate new optical waves centered at frequencies differing from the input waves, while retaining the input wave coherent properties. In the case when parametric mixer is used to generate frequency combs with small frequency pitch, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves can be achieved by electro-optical modulator and a single master laser. In the case when frequency comb possessing a frequency pitch that is larger than frequency modulation that can be affected by electro-optic modulator, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves is achieved by combined use of an electro-optical modulator and injection locking to a single or multiple slave lasers.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide apparatuses and methods for phase correlated seeding of parametric mixer and for generating coherent frequency combs. The parametric mixer may use two phase-correlated optical waves with different carrier frequencies to generate new optical waves centered at frequencies differing from the input waves, while retaining the input wave coherent properties. In the case when parametric mixer is used to generate frequency combs with small frequency pitch, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves can be achieved by electro-optical modulator and a single master laser. In the case when frequency comb possessing a frequency pitch that is larger than frequency modulation that can be affected by electro-optic modulator, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves is achieved by combined use of an electro-optical modulator and injection locking to a single or multiple slave lasers.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provides methods and systems for synthesizing optical signals with high frequency stability. Using a set of external optical signal manipulators and control systems, embodiments of the invention enhance the resolution of any frequency reference and thereby alleviates the needs for ultra-high-Q cavities in frequency-stable optical signal synthesis. The invention consequently improves the performance of any optical signal generator by a substantial margin, while maintaining the system complexity and power dissipation at levels comparable to the original systems.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide apparatuses and methods for phase correlated seeding of parametric mixer and for generating coherent frequency combs. The parametric mixer may use two phase-correlated optical waves with different carrier frequencies to generate new optical waves centered at frequencies differing from the input waves, while retaining the input wave coherent properties. In the case when parametric mixer is used to generate frequency combs with small frequency pitch, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves can be achieved by electro-optical modulator and a single master laser. In the case when frequency comb possessing a frequency pitch that is larger than frequency modulation that can be affected by electro-optic modulator, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves is achieved by combined use of an electro-optical modulator and injection locking to a single or multiple slave lasers.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide apparatuses and methods for phase correlated seeding of parametric mixer and for generating coherent frequency combs. The parametric mixer may use two phase-correlated optical waves with different carrier frequencies to generate new optical waves centered at frequencies differing from the input waves, while retaining the input wave coherent properties. In the case when parametric mixer is used to generate frequency combs with small frequency pitch, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves can be achieved by electro-optical modulator and a single master laser. In the case when frequency comb possessing a frequency pitch that is larger than frequency modulation that can be affected by electro-optic modulator, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves is achieved by combined use of an electro-optical modulator and injection locking to a single or multiple slave lasers.

Abstract: An optical device for generating a frequency comb includes an optical source and a first waveguide comprising a nonlinear optical medium operable to mix at least two input optical waves to generate a plurality of first optical waves. The optical device also includes a second waveguide concatenated to the first waveguide and characterized by a first dispersion characteristics and operable to compress the waveforms of the plurality of first optical waves and to reduce a frequency chirp introduced by the first waveguide. The optical device additionally includes a third waveguide concatenated to the second waveguide. The third waveguide comprises a nonlinear optical medium and is operable to mix the plurality of first optical waves to generate a plurality of second optical waves and to increase a total number of second optical waves with respect to a total number of first optical waves.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide apparatuses and methods for phase correlated seeding of parametric mixer and for generating coherent frequency combs. The parametric mixer may use two phase-correlated optical waves with different carrier frequencies to generate new optical waves centered at frequencies differing from the input waves, while retaining the input wave coherent properties. In the case when parametric mixer is used to generate frequency combs with small frequency pitch, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves can be achieved by electro-optical modulator and a single master laser. In the case when frequency comb possessing a frequency pitch that is larger than frequency modulation that can be affected by electro-optic modulator, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves is achieved by combined use of an electro-optical modulator and injection locking to a single or multiple slave lasers.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provides methods and systems for synthesizing optical signals with high frequency stability. Using a set of external optical signal manipulators and control systems, embodiments of the invention enhance the resolution of any frequency reference and thereby alleviates the needs for ultra-high-Q cavities in frequency-stable optical signal synthesis. The invention consequently improves the performance of any optical signal generator by a substantial margin, while maintaining the system complexity and power dissipation at levels comparable to the original systems.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide apparatuses and methods for phase correlated seeding of parametric mixer and for generating coherent frequency combs. The parametric mixer may use two phase-correlated optical waves with different carrier frequencies to generate new optical waves centered at frequencies differing from the input waves, while retaining the input wave coherent properties. In the case when parametric mixer is used to generate frequency combs with small frequency pitch, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves can be achieved by electro-optical modulator and a single master laser. In the case when frequency comb possessing a frequency pitch that is larger than frequency modulation that can be affected by electro-optic modulator, the phase correlation of the input (seed) waves is achieved by combined use of an electro-optical modulator and injection locking to a single or multiple slave lasers.

Abstract: An optical device for generating a frequency comb includes an optical source and a first waveguide comprising a nonlinear optical medium operable to mix at least two input optical waves to generate a plurality of first optical waves. The optical device also includes a second waveguide concatenated to the first waveguide and characterized by a first dispersion characteristics and operable to compress the waveforms of the plurality of first optical waves and to reduce a frequency chirp introduced by the first waveguide. The optical device additionally includes a third waveguide concatenated to the second waveguide. The third waveguide comprises a nonlinear optical medium and is operable to mix the plurality of first optical waves to generate a plurality of second optical waves and to increase a total number of second optical waves with respect to a total number of first optical waves.