Abstract: A mode locked as a seed source for a solid state regenerative amplifier system is disclosed. The system includes components for forming an external cavity laser with a semiconductor amplifier, exciting and mode locking the cavity laser to emit optical pulses with a linearly time varying optical frequency, collecting and collimating the optical pulses, isolating the optical pulses and amplifying the optical pulses for a selected application. The selected applications include but are not limited to medical imaging, fuel diagnostics, ultrafast spectroscopic measurements, network synchronization, distributed optical clock network, electro-optic sampling, timing Jitter reduction, a source for inducing nonlinear optical effects, and optical time domain relectometry. A mount mechanism support for an optic system is also disclosed.

Abstract: A mode-locked solid state laser is disclosed for generating ultrashort optical pulses from a semiconductor type laser. A semiconductor pulse slicer/demultiplexer/modulator with gain amplification is used to modulate and amplify a generated optical beam whether or not the beam is pulsed, continuous wave, q-switched, or modelocked. Alternatively, the semiconductor pulse slicer/demultiplexer/modulator with gain amplification is used to gate a generated optical beam whether or not the beam is pulsed, continuous wave, q-switched, or modelocked. Alternatively, the semiconductor pulse slicer/demultiplexer/modulator with gain amplification is used to demultiplex a generated optical beam whether or not the beam is pulsed, continuous wave, q-switched, or modelocked. The invention uses only semiconductor type materials such as Titanium Saphire, Gallium Arsenide, Aluminum Gallium Arsenide (GaAs/AlGaAs) as both the pulse slicer/demultiplexer/modulator with gain amplification, and the mode-locked laser itself.

Abstract: A mode locked as a seed source for a solid state regenerative amplifier system is disclosed. The system includes components for forming an external cavity laser with a semiconductor amplifier, exciting and mode locking the cavity laser to emit optical pulses with a linearly time varying optical frequency, collecting and collimating the optical pulses, isolating the optical pulses and amplifying the optical pulses for a selected application. The selected applications include but are not limited to medical imaging, fuel diagnostics, ultrafast spectroscopic measurements, network synchronization, distributed optical clock network, electro-optic sampling, timing Jitter reduction, a source for inducing nonlinear optical effects, and optical time domain relectometry. A mount mechanism support for an optic system is also disclosed.

Abstract: A mode-locked solid state laser is disclosed for generating ultrashort optical pulses from solid state material. The laser can comprise a solid state gain medium, at least one mirror connected to the medium and a semiconductor multiple quantum well saturable (MQW) absorber in contact with the mirror, for mode-locking the solid state gain medium. The solid state medium can be composed of but is not limited to Titanium Sapphire, Cr:YAG, Cr:Fosterite, Nd:YAG, Nd:glass, color center lasers, semiconductor diode lasers, optically active fiber lasers, and the like. The absorber can include a structure consisting of 70 Angstrom wells of GaAs and 100 Angstrom barriers of AlGaAs. The generated optical pulses can be used in a wide variety of applications such as diagnostic testing, communications, computers, medicine, automotive applications and the like.

Abstract: A saturable absorber comprising multiple quantum-well layers (32, 34, 36) of differing thicknesses and separated by barrier layers (38) so as to produce a wide-band absorption. Such a saturable absorber (30) is useful in a hybrid mode-locked laser having an optical cavity defined by two mirrors (10, 12) into which are placed the saturable absorber (30) and an optical amplifier (14) driven by both a DC bias and an RF modulation signal.

Abstract: For use, e.g., in the compensation of frequency dispersion in the course of transmission of an optical signal, a pulse-shaping device is provided with a suitably shaped nonplanar mirror (16). When spatially spread-out frequency components--produced, e.g., by a grating (14)--are reflected from such mirror, a frequency-dependent phase shift is introduced; for example, such phase shift may be a third-order function of frequency. Upon recombination of frequencies, a shaped pulse is obtained. Furthermore, third-order compensation can be used to compress amplified light pulses, e.g. as produced by a semiconductor gain medium (80, 81).

Abstract: A method and apparatus for generating a light pulse having a duration as short as about 3 picoseconds is disclosed. A 5 mJ 25 picosecond second harmonic light pulse from a Nd:YAG laser system is focused into a 5 cm cell filled with D.sub.2 O so as to generate a continuum light pulse spanning about 150 nanometers with an average energy of at least 20 nd/nm across the spectrum. The continuum light pulse is fed through a 10 nanometer narrowband filter centered at 580 nanometers, producing an output pulse having a duration of about 3 picoseconds. The pulse so produced has a number of uses including as a seed pulse for dye laser oscillators and solid state amplifiers or as a pump source for pumping ultrashort dye lasers.