Patents Examined by Michael Carter
  • Patent number: 12658673
    Abstract: A high speed spatial light modulators are described. In one non-limiting example, an optical phased array structure comprises a vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) that provides a light beam and a phase delay unit that includes a bi-layer photonic crystal slab. The bi-layer photonic crystal slab (PCS) is attached to the VCSEL and comprises two silicon PCS layers separated by a dielectric layer. The optical phased array structure is configured to control a direction of the light beam by a voltage applied to the phase delay unit. By incorporating a dispersive layer (e.g. graphene), the absorption of the structure can be modulated and accordingly the reflection of the surface can be modulated as well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2026
    Assignee: Board of Regents, The University of Texas System
    Inventors: Weidong Zhou, Mingsen Pan
  • Patent number: 12658666
    Abstract: An excimer laser includes a chamber for containing a gas mixture between a rear end and a front end of a linear laser resonator, a convex end-mirror defining the rear end, and a plurality of output-coupling mirrors collectively defining the front end. The output-coupling mirrors are distributed along an optical axis of the resonator and have respective normal vectors pointing toward the rear end. The normal vectors include four mutually non-parallel normal vectors, wherein no three of the four mutually non-parallel normal vectors are coplanar. These different orientations of the output-coupling mirrors cooperate with the convex end-mirror to blur fine structure in the output beam of the resonator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2026
    Assignee: Coherent LaserSystems GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Igor Bragin, Jozsef Bekesi
  • Patent number: 12658672
    Abstract: The present disclosure includes a method for driving a laser system, wherein the laser system includes: at least one laser diode arranged for light emission; an electronic circuit configured for driving the laser diode by applying an electric drive current; and a power sensor arrangement including at least one power sensor for measuring an optical power output, wherein the method includes: applying and maintaining the electric drive current to the at least one laser diode at a setpoint; determining measurement values of a current optical power output by the power sensor arrangement; comparing the measurement values of the current optical power output with a target optical power output; and adjusting and maintaining the electric drive current at a new setpoint when an absolute value of a difference between the target optical power output and the current optical power output crosses a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2026
    Assignee: Endress+Hauser Optical Analysis, Inc.
    Inventor: Timothy Norwood
  • Patent number: 12651886
    Abstract: Provided is a light transmitter, including: a substrate; a semiconductor refrigeration assembly arranged on the substrate; a light emitting assembly mounted on the semiconductor refrigeration assembly, so that the semiconductor refrigeration assembly cools the light emitting assembly, and the light emitting assembly is configured to generate a laser beam; a tube shell mounted on the substrate to package the semiconductor refrigeration assembly and the light emitting assembly; an optical fiber configured to output the laser beam generated by the light emitting assembly to an outside of the tube shell; and a transparent filling glue filled in a space between an inner wall of the tube shell and the substrate, and configured to guide the laser beam generated by the light emitting assembly to the optical fiber and transfer a heat generated by the light emitting assembly to the tube shell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2023
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2026
    Assignee: INSTITUTE OF SEMICONDUCTORS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
    Inventors: Shaokang Chen, Chunyuan Mu, Keqi Cao, Jian Wang, Yu Liu, Wei Chen, Ming Li, Ninghua Zhu
  • Patent number: 12646900
    Abstract: A laser apparatus according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a laser oscillator configured to emit a pulse laser beam, and a first optical pulse stretcher, a second optical pulse stretcher, and a third optical pulse stretcher that are disposed on an optical path of the pulse laser beam. When L1 represents an optical path length of a delay optical path of the first optical pulse stretcher, L2 represents an optical path length of a delay optical path of the second optical pulse stretcher, L3 represents an optical path length of a delay optical path of the third optical pulse stretcher, and n represents an integer equal to or larger than two, L2 is an integral multiple of L1 by an integer equal to or larger than two and L3 satisfies the following condition: (n?0.75)×L1?L3?(n?0.25)×L1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2026
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventor: Hirotaka Miyamoto
  • Patent number: 12646901
    Abstract: A fiber amplifier is provided, including a pump laser (202), a pump and signal combiner (203), and a few-mode doped fiber (204). The pump laser (202) is configured to output pump light. The pump and signal combiner (203) is configured to couple input few-mode signal light and the pump light into the few-mode doped fiber (204). Refractive indexes of a fiber core of the few-mode doped fiber (204) are distributed to be gradient along a radial direction of a cross section, the fiber core is etched with periodic gratings along an axial direction, and periods of the gratings satisfy a phase matching condition. The fiber amplifier achieves strong coupling and co-amplification between optical signal modes, thereby reducing a differential gain between mode groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2026
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Lin Zhang, Yaping Liu, Zhiqun Yang, Qiang Guo, Rui Zhou
  • Patent number: 12633713
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device (10) for amplifying a laser pulse which comprises a divider section (14) for dividing the laser pulse into multiple sub pulses (43) and for introducing a time delay between the sub pulses (43), a compressor section (15) for compressing the temporally divided sub pulses (43) and a combiner section (17) for combining the compressed sub pulses (44) to one compressed laser pulse (45).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2026
    Assignee: Universitat Stuttgart
    Inventors: Marwan Abdou Ahmed, Florian Bienert
  • Patent number: 12627116
    Abstract: A light source device includes: a substrate having a support face; a lateral wall part disposed on the substrate and having an upper face and inner wall faces, the inner wall faces defining a space; a laser diode located in the space; a first submount having a mounting face bonded to an upper face of the laser diode, and an upper face located opposite the mounting face; a sealing member bonded to the upper face of the lateral wall part and the upper face of the first submount, thereby sealing the space; a heat dissipating block located above the first submount; and a heat conducting member located between the first submount and the heat dissipating block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2026
    Assignee: NICHIA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tadaaki Miyata
  • Patent number: 12614887
    Abstract: A diffractive optical element, such as a plasma grating, can be made by directing two laser beams so that they overlap in a nonlinear material to form an interference pattern in the nonlinear material. The interference pattern can modify the index of refraction in the nonlinear material to produce the diffractive optical element. This diffractive optical element may be used to separate the peak of a laser pulse from light preceding the peak thereby increase the temporal contrast of a laser pulse such as a compressed laser pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2026
    Assignee: Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC
    Inventors: Matthew Reid Edwards, Pierre A. Michel
  • Patent number: 12614886
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device for generating a sequence of laser pulses consisting of pulse bursts. The object of the invention is to provide a possibility of generating laser pulses for material processing in the burst mode at a high quality based on the principle of beam combination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2026
    Assignees: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Zur Förderung Der Angewandten Forschung E. V, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
    Inventors: Klaus Bergner, Stefan Nolte, Martin Gebhardt
  • Patent number: 12614893
    Abstract: A semiconductor optical device includes: a lower mesa structure extending in a stripe shape and composed of some layers including an active layer; a buried layer configured to bury both sides of the lower mesa structure and made of indium phosphide; and an upper mesa structure extending in a stripe shape and composed of some layers including a bottom layer made of phosphorus-free materials, the bottom layer having a bottom surface protruding from a topmost layer of the lower mesa structure, the bottom surface being in contact with the lower mesa structure and the buried layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2026
    Assignee: LumentumRadiant GmbH
    Inventors: Kazuki Suga, Kouji Nakahara
  • Patent number: 12614888
    Abstract: Disclosed is a laser apparatus including a laser generator comprising a laser medium, a pumping light source providing light to the laser medium, a first mirror and a second mirror arranged with the laser medium therebetween, and configured to generate a laser beam of a first wavelength, a secondary harmonic wave generator configured to generate a laser beam of a second wavelength from the laser beam of a first wavelength, a light modulator arranged between the laser medium and the secondary harmonic wave generator and configured to adjust a pulse width of the laser beam of a first wavelength, and an output adjustor configured to adjust an output of the laser beam of a second wavelength generated in the secondary harmonic wave generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2026
    Assignee: LUTRONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Wook Rae Cho, Jin Hu Lee, Min Jee Jeon
  • Patent number: 12614891
    Abstract: An optical element is positioned in a holder over a laser light source. The optical element includes an electrical trace that is coupled between first and second pads. A sensing circuit that is also coupled to the first and second pads performs a voltage/current sensing operation to detect displacement of the optical element and control enablement of the laser light source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2026
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Research & Development) Limited
    Inventors: Steven Collins, Graeme Storm, Supriya Raveendra Hegde
  • Patent number: 12603471
    Abstract: An optical arrangement for adjusting the wavelength of light, comprising: a first light source arranged to generate a first beam of light at a first wavelength; a second light source arranged to generate seed light at a second wavelength; a first Raman shifting medium arranged to receive the light from the first light source in combination with the seed light from the second light source, and to produce, by stimulated Raman scattering, output light at the second wavelength and having temporal properties determined by those of the first beam of light; a third light source arranged to generate seed light at a third wavelength; and a second Raman shifting medium arranged to receive the output light from the first Raman shifting medium in combination with the seed light from the third light source, and to produce, by stimulated Raman scattering, output light at the third wavelength and having temporal properties determined by those of the output light from the first Raman shifting medium; wherein the third wavele
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2026
    Assignee: Imperial College Innovations Limited
    Inventor: Timothy Runcorn
  • Patent number: 12597759
    Abstract: The invention relates to a component with a main part and a contact structure. The main part has an active zone which is designed to generate electromagnetic radiation at least in some regions during the operation of the component. The contact structure has a plurality of individually actuatable segments. The component has a connection surface and a lateral surface running transversely to the connection surface, and the lateral surface is designed as a radiation passage surface of the component. The connection surface is designed to be structured, wherein the connection surface is defined by common internal boundary surfaces between the main part and the contact structure, and each segment has a local common boundary surface with the main part and is designed for a pixelated current impression into the main part. The invention additionally relates to a method for operating such a component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2026
    Assignee: AMS-OSRAM INTERNATIONAL GMBH
    Inventors: Christoph Eichler, Lars Naehle, Sven Gerhard, Alfred Lell, Harald Koenig
  • Patent number: 12586972
    Abstract: A laser system generates laser pulses having a determined carrier-envelope-offset, CEO. The laser system includes a Cr-doped II-VI based laser oscillator system having a resonator cavity, which emits laser pulses having a peak power of at least 0.75 MW. The laser system further includes a nonlinear optical element for spectrally broadening at least a part of the emitted laser pulses irradiated onto the nonlinear optical element to provide the laser pulses with octave-spanning spectral components, and a frequency-doubling element for generating second harmonic spectral components of at least a part of the octave-spanning spectral components. In addition, the laser system includes an f-2f-interferometry device for generating a beating signal of at least a part of the overlapping spectral components exiting the frequency-doubling element and interfering with each other at the f-2f-interferomtry device and for determining and/or controlling the CEO of the emitted laser pulses based on the beating signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2026
    Assignees: Max-Planck-Gessellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V., Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Center for Molecular Fingerprinting; Molekuláris-Ujjlenyomat Kutató Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft.
    Inventors: Ka Fai Mak, Ferenc Krausz, Philipp Steinleitner, Nathalie Lenke, Maciej Kowalczyk, Alexander Weigel
  • Patent number: 12586980
    Abstract: A thermo-optical ground plane includes a plate configured to mount a diode laser device defining a first surface area, an evaporation chamber in thermal communication with the plate, and a channel defined in thermal communication with the evaporation chamber. The channel is configured to receive and circulate a coolant fluid at a predetermined flowrate. The evaporation chamber is configured to receive a working fluid. The inner walls of the evaporation chamber define a second surface area that is greater than the first surface area of the diode laser device. The plate comprises beam shaping and folding optics for collimating and focusing the light from the diode laser device on an optical fiber. Light from a plurality of thermo-optical ground planes is combined on a single optical fiber. The structure enables cooling with exceptionally low coolant flowrate while also maintaining small specific volume and small specific weight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2026
    Assignee: Teledyne Scientific & Imaging, LLC
    Inventors: Tadej Semenic, Seongchul Jun, Avijit Bhunia, Weiya Zhang, Milind Mahajan, John Mansell, Kyle Gould
  • Patent number: 12580362
    Abstract: A light emitting module includes a semiconductor laser, a collimating lens for that collimates light beam output from the semiconductor laser, a prism pair including two substantially triangular-plate-shaped prisms, each passing the light beam between two end surfaces on both sides of one apex angle to refract the light beam, and the prisms being sequentially arranged on an optical path of the light beam in such a manner that the orientations of apex angles of the prisms are opposite to each other, and a rotary stage configured to hold the prism pair and to be rotatable about a rotation axis C extending in a prism thickness direction in such a manner that an incident angle of the light beam entering the prism positioned on the upstream side of the optical path is changed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2026
    Assignee: KYOCERA SOC Corporation
    Inventors: Masami Hatori, Satoshi Nakao, Isao Masukawa
  • Patent number: 12573816
    Abstract: A light source module that emits a combined laser beam, and includes: a plurality of semiconductor laser elements; and a control circuit that controls power of a laser beam emitted by each of the semiconductor laser elements. The semiconductor laser elements include: a first element group that emits a first laser beam; and a second element group that emits a second laser beam. The combined laser beam includes at least one of the first laser beam or the second laser beam. The control circuit maintains an average combined-beam wavelength that is an average wavelength of the combined laser beam constant for a change in power of the combined laser beam. When the power of the first laser beam and the power of the second laser beam are equal to each other, an average wavelength of the first laser beam is longer than an average wavelength of the second laser beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2026
    Assignee: NUVOTON TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION JAPAN
    Inventor: Katsuya Samonji
  • Patent number: 12548968
    Abstract: Gaseous laser systems and related techniques are disclosed. Techniques disclosed herein may be utilized, in accordance with some embodiments, in providing a gaseous laser system with a configuration that provides (A) pump illumination with distinct edge surfaces for an extended depth and (B) an output beam illumination from a resonator cavity with distinct edges in its reflectivity profile, thereby providing (C) pump beam and resonator beam illumination on a volume so that the distinct edge surfaces of its pump and resonator beam illumination are shared-edge surfaces with (D) further edge surfaces of the amplifier volume at the surfaces illuminated directly by the pump or resonator beams, as defined by optical windows and (optionally) by one or more flowing gas curtains depleted of the alkali vapor flowing along those optical windows. Techniques disclosed herein may be implemented, for example, in a diode-pumped alkali laser (DPAL) system, in accordance with some embodiments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2025
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2026
    Assignee: XEMED LLC
    Inventor: F. William Hersman