Patents by Inventor William Culver

William Culver has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20060132903
    Abstract: A method passively locks and phases an array of fiber amplifiers in a fiber amplifier system that emits a beam, such as a laser beam. The method locks the fiber amplifiers so that the fiber amplifiers operate at same or similar frequencies. The method samples a small portion of the emitted beam in a far-field around a central lobe on an optical axis and then couples this portion of emitted beam back into the array of fiber amplifiers. The fiber amplifiers may be phased so that the emitted beam concentrates its energy around the central lobe in the far-field. Phasing may be achieved by using an aperture, for example, to restrict the portion of the emitted beam to be coupled back to a restricted region around the optical axis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2004
    Publication date: June 22, 2006
    Inventors: Sami Shakir, Sami Hendow, William Culver, Burke Nelson