Abstract: A device comprising a laser source producing a continuous output on a beam path and an amplifier is disclosed. The device further includes a partially transmissive, partially reflective optic disposed on said beam path between said laser source and said amplifier. The device further includes a droplet generator positioned to deliver a droplet moving on a path intersecting said beam path, the droplet reflecting light to establish an optical cavity with said optic.

Abstract: A spherical laser includes a transparent or semi-transparent outer spherical vessel having an internal cavity, an amplifying medium in the cavity, and means to excite the amplifying medium. The sphere is provided with a partially reflective coating to act as a spherical optical resonator. The spherical resonator includes a plurality of optically different regions containing alternative optical media from the cavity medium differing in bulk optical parameters utilized for mode tailoring. The optically different regions work collectively to exclude the whispering gallery modes from those supported by the spherical cavity. Excitation of the amplifying medium produces an optical gain. When the gain exceeds cavity losses and threshold conditions are met, lasing is supported. This creates a three-dimensional, spherically radiating emission, emulating a point source. The sphere is enclosed within a mirrored ellipse to image the output to a point, or within a mirrored parabola to columinate the emission.

Abstract: Apparatus for producing short optical pulses comprising an oscillator for producing optical pulses at a first optical pulse frequency, the optical pulses having a first wavelength; first and second optical amplifiers; a pulse picker, located between the first and second optical fiber amplifiers, the pulse picker operable to reduce the optical pulse frequency of optical pulses, the amplifier amplifying optical pulses at the first optical pulse frequency and the second amplifier amplifying optical pulses at a reduced optical pulse frequency that is less than said first optical pulse frequency; and a nonlinear optical fiber receiving amplified optical pulses at the reduced optical pulse frequency and having the first wavelength to nonlinearly produce, at the reduced optical pulse frequency, optical pulses that include a wavelength that is different than the first wavelength.

Abstract: In one aspect, an optical gain device is provided. The optical gain device comprises a metallic film and an optical gain medium. The metallic film has a plurality of slits therethrough. The plurality of slits are configured such that the film selectively and resonantly transmits light over a preselected frequency range. The optical gain medium is situated within or substantially near at least one slit of the plurality of slits.

Abstract: A nonlinear optical system comprises a metallic film having a first side and a second side. The nonlinear optical system further comprises a regular array of slits in the metallic film. The slits connect the first and second sides of the metallic film. The array is configured to selectively transmit through the metallic film light having frequencies of a selected frequency band. The nonlinear optical system still further comprises a nonlinear optical material situated within the slit.

Abstract: This disclosure provides implementations of electromechanical systems (EMS) resonator structures, devices, apparatus, systems, and related processes. In one aspect, a device includes an evanescent-mode electromagnetic-wave cavity resonator. In some implementations, the cavity resonator includes a lower cavity portion and an upper cavity portion that together form a volume. The cavity resonator also includes an in-plane lithographically-defined resonator structure having a portion that is located at least partially within the volume to support one or more evanescent electromagnetic wave modes. In some implementations, an upper surface of the resonator structure is connected with the upper cavity portion while a lower mating surface is connected with the lower cavity portion.

Abstract: A laser beam amplifier with high optical axis stability is provided. The laser beam amplifier includes: a container for accommodating a laser medium; a pair of electrodes for performing discharge in the laser medium to form an amplification region for a laser beam in the laser medium; and an optical system for forming an optical path between a first point, upon which the laser beam is incident, and a second point, from which the laser beam is outputted, such that the amplification region is located in the optical path between the first point and the second point, wherein the first point and the second point are conjugate to each other, and the laser beam incident upon the first point is amplified while passing through the amplification region at least twice and then transferred to the second point.

Abstract: A vertical microcavity having a layer structure perpendicular to a vertical axis z, includes a first reflector and a second reflector, each comprising one or more material layers; a confinement layer between the reflectors, wherein an electromagnetic wave can be substantially confined, the confinement layer having a body and a defect delimited by first and second surfaces, perpendicular to the vertical axis z; wherein one of the two surfaces is contiguous with the body, the other one contiguous with a layer of the first or second reflector, and wherein one of the two surfaces has a curved profile in at least a plane section perpendicular to the layer structure, the curved profile having a vertex, which defines a maximal thickness h0 of the defect between the first surface and the second surface in the plane section, the maximal thickness h0 being less than a thickness of the contiguous layer.

Abstract: A device comprising a laser source producing a continuous output on a beam path and an amplifier is disclosed. The device further includes a partially transmissive, partially reflective optic disposed on said beam path between said laser source and said amplifier. The device further includes a droplet generator positioned to deliver a droplet moving on a path intersecting said beam path, the droplet reflecting light to establish an optical cavity with said optic.

Abstract: Light enhancement devices, applications for the light enhancement devices, and methods for making the light enhancement devices are provided. The light enhancement devices include a substrate and a film of metal disposed over the substrate, the film of metal including at least one cavity. The cavity may be of various shapes depending on the desired application.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of spectral control in a frequency-shift laser chain for producing ultra-short pulses and comprising at least two laser-crystal amplifier stages, for cooling the crystal of one of the amplifier stages of the chain.

Abstract: A metamaterial structure is provided, including a substrate and a plurality of resonators that are provided on different surfaces of the substrate or different layers of the substrate. The resonators have resonance characteristics different from each other, and the metamaterial structure has a permittivity, a permeability, and a refractive index respectively different from those of the substrate in a predetermined frequency bandwidth.

Abstract: A quantum device includes a resonator and a tuning structure. The tuning structure is made a material such as a chalcogenide and is positioned to interact with the electromagnetic radiation in the resonator so that a resonant mode of the first resonator depends on a characteristic of the tuning structure. The resonator is optically coupled so that a transition between quantum states associated with a defect produces electromagnetic radiation in the resonator. The characteristic of the tuning structure is adjustable after fabrication of the resonator and the tuning structure.

Abstract: An edge photo-pumped semiconductor slab amplifier including an undoped semiconductor slab. A first gain structure is formed on an upper surface of the slab and a second gain structure is formed on a lower surface of the slab. The gain structures can be resonant periodic gain structures including a plurality of stacked quantum well layers. Confining layers are coupled to the gain structures to confine a signal beam within the semiconductor slab. Heat sinks are thermally coupled to the confining layers. Optical pump sources are provided along the side edges or coupled to the end edges of the slab so that pump light is introduced into the slab through the edges to provide gain for the quantum well layers.

Abstract: A laser and amplifier combination delivers a sequence of optical pulses at a predetermined pulse-repetition frequency PRF. An interferometer generates a signal representative of the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of the pulses at intervals corresponding to the PRF. The signal includes frequency components from DC to the PRF. The signal is divided into high and low frequency ranges. The high and low frequency ranges are sent to independent high frequency and low frequency control electronics, which drive respectively a high-frequency CEP controller and a low frequency controller for stabilizing the CEP of pulses in the sequence.

Abstract: A master oscillator system may include a grating that functions as one of a plurality of resonator mirrors in an optical resonator, an optical element disposed within an optical path between the plurality of resonator mirrors, and an attitude control mechanism that adjusts an angle at which laser light traveling within the optical resonator is incident on the grating by adjusting the attitude of the optical element.

Abstract: An intense optical high field generator capable of generating an intensive optical high field includes an optical amplification medium that converts optical energy for a wide band or plural bands and performs optical energy conversion into oscillating light oscillated from an optical resonator. The generator also includes: a negative dispersion element that imparts negative dispersion to a pulse light, which is the oscillating light; a mode locking unit that mode locks the optical resonator; a positive dispersion element that imparts positive dispersion on the pulse light; an optical system; and a vacuum chamber that accommodates the negative dispersion element, the mode locking unit, and the positive dispersion element 4, such that an intensive optical high field generating point takes in the pulse light from the negative dispersion element or the positive dispersion element and is formed within the vacuum chamber.

Abstract: A semiconductor optical amplifier for amplifying an optical signal. The amplifier comprises an input for receiving the optical signal and an output for outputting an amplified version of the optical signal. A semiconductor active medium is provided for defining an amplification path extending between the input and the output for amplifying the optical signal as the optical signal propagates along the amplification path. A control means selectively controls the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of the semiconductor optical amplifier. The control means is co-operable with the active medium for selectively varying carrier density along the amplification path.

Abstract: A system and method include forming an optical cavity by positioning a photonic crystal a predetermined distance from a substrate, and creating, within the cavity, a standing wave having a substantially flat wavefront. The standing wave may be created by applying an input wave to a first surface of the photonic crystal. The predetermined distance may be such that a peak intensity of the standing wave is proximate to or a calculated distance from the substrate surface. The peak intensity may vary in relation to the substrate surface. The method may include tuning the peak intensity location within the cavity by shifting the wavelength of the input wave or altering the characteristics of the photonic crystal by an external field. A second photonic crystal may be used on the other side of the substrate to replace the reflecting properties of the substrate, allowing for further smoothing of the wavefront.

Abstract: Devices having whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonators configured to meet requirements of various applications and facilitate fabrication of such devices.

Abstract: A high extraction efficiency laser system. The novel laser system includes a laser amplifier and a laser source adapted to provide a laser beam to the amplifier such that polarization states for incident and reflected light within the amplifier are perpendicular one to another. In an illustrative embodiment, the laser beam is input to the amplifier such that the beam reflects back and forth between the side walls of the amplifier with an angle of incidence of about 45 degrees, and the laser beam is linearly polarized in the plane of incidence. This arrangement reduces interference fringes in the amplifier. In an alternative embodiment, the system includes an aberrator adapted to add time-varying aberrations in the laser beam at a rate exceeding an inversed lifetime of an inverted population in the amplifier to increase spatial homogenization of saturation and extraction patterns in the amplifier.

Abstract: There is provided an optical waveguide element comprises: a core of an optical waveguide; and a Bragg grating pattern that is provided on the core, wherein a pitch of the Bragg grating pattern takes a value from among three or more predetermined discrete values; the pitches that take the respective discrete values are present in a plurality of locations over an entire length of the optical waveguide respectively; and if a value from among all of the discrete values which has the highest distribution frequency is taken as M, and if the closest value to the M which is larger than the M is taken as A, and if the closest value to the M which is smaller than the M is taken as B, then a difference expressed as A?M is equal to a difference expressed as M?B.

Abstract: A new broadband source having a discrete set of spectral emission lines having high peak power in each line is provided by placing a gain medium in a reflective cavity comprising reflective front and back surfaces. A cavity feedback factor less than unity is achieved by providing reflectivity of one surface substantially lower than the reflectivity of the other surface such that spontaneous emission in the gain medium is linearly amplified just below the lasing threshold. In an alternative arrangement, a movable external back surface placed at a prescribed distance from the gain medium provides a means to achieve a free spectral range and finesse of the emission lines to match a pitch of a detector array in a SD-OCT system. By simultaneously providing high power to each detector element of the array, sensitivity and imaging speed of SD-OCT system are significantly improved.

Abstract: There is provided a planar optical waveguide element comprises a core of an optical waveguide; and first Bragg grating pattern and second Bragg grating pattern that are provided on the core, wherein the first Bragg grating pattern and the second Bragg grating pattern are mutually parallel along a propagation direction of guided light.

Abstract: A regenerative amplifier according to one aspect of this disclosure is used in combination with a laser device, and the regenerative amplifier may include: a pair of resonator mirrors constituting an optical resonator; a slab amplifier provided between the pair of the resonator mirrors for amplifying a laser beam with a predetermined wavelength outputted from the laser device; and an optical system disposed to configure a multipass optical path along which the laser beam is reciprocated inside the slab amplifier, the optical system transferring an optical image of the laser beam at a first position as an optical image of the laser beam at a second position.

Abstract: Tunable plasmon resonant cavity arrays in paired parallel nanowire waveguides are presented. Resonances can be observed when the waveguide length is an odd multiple of quarter plasmon wavelengths, consistent with boundary conditions of node and antinode at the ends. Two nanowire waveguides can satisfy the dispersion relation of a planar metal-dielectric-metal waveguide of equivalent width equal to the square field average weighted gap. Confinement factors of over 103 are possible due to plasmon focusing in the inter-wire space.

Abstract: A new broadband discrete spectrum light source comprising a gain medium placed in a feedback cavity is disclosed. A design for a feedback cavity including reflectors having raised-edge reflectivity is presented. Bandwidth enhancement is achieved by selectively enhancing the intensity of the discrete emission lines near the band edges of the gain medium spectrum. The bandwidth of a broadband discrete spectrum light source is further enhanced by digitally applying a spectral correction to each detected signal according to a predetermined correction profile. A combined effect of using a broadband discrete spectrum light source and applying spectral correction to the detected signal in an imaging system such as a Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) imaging system, results in a desired spectral profile and a bandwidth necessary to achieve higher depth resolution for obtaining high quality diagnostic images.

Abstract: The various laser architectures described herein provide increased gain of optical energy as well as compensation of optical phase distortions in a thin disk gain medium. An optical amplifier presented herein provides for scalable high energy extraction and gains based on a number of passes of the signal beam through a gain medium. Multiple, spatially separate, optical paths may also be passed through the same gain region to provide gain clearing by splitting off a small percentage of an output pulse and sending it back through the amplifier along a slightly different path. By clearing out the residual gain, uniform signal amplitudes can be obtained.

Abstract: There is provided a wide-band optical amplifier (10) that is capable of amplifying a wide-band signal. The wide-band optical amplifier (10) includes a first amplifier (NOPA1) that emits, based on a to-be-amplified light beam having a predetermined range of wavelengths and a first pump beam (L2) having a first wavelength, the to-be-amplified light beam having a first range of amplified wavelengths, where the first range is a part of the predetermined range, and a second amplifier (NOPA2) that emits, based on the to-be-amplified light beam having the first range of amplified wavelengths and a second pump beam (L3) having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, the to-be-amplified light beam having a second range of amplified wavelengths, where the second range is different from the first range.

Abstract: Disclosed are a device and a method for the design and fabrication of the device for enhancing the brightness of luminescent molecules, nanostructures, and thin films. The device includes a mirror, a dielectric medium or spacer, an absorptive layer, and a luminescent layer. The absorptive layer is a continuous thin film of a strongly absorbing organic or inorganic material. The luminescent layer may be a continuous luminescent thin film or an arrangement of isolated luminescent species, e.g., organic or metal-organic dye molecules, semiconductor quantum dots, or other semiconductor nanostructures, supported on top of the absorptive layer.

Abstract: A laser oscillator includes: a optical resonator having an orthogonal mirror and a partial reflection mirror; a laser gas acting as a laser medium; and a 90-degree folding mirror acting as a polarization selecting element. The orthogonal mirror has two reflecting surfaces orthogonal to each other. The 90-degree folding mirror is arranged such that the polarization direction of the laser oscillated light is parallel to the reference axis set in a plane perpendicular to an optical axis of the optical resonator. The orthogonal mirror is arranged such that the polarization direction of the laser oscillated light is parallel to the valley line of the orthogonal mirror. This configuration can compensate anisotropy of optical characteristics in a laser medium, and stably generate linearly polarized laser light having excellent isotropy in a simple manner.

Abstract: An optical resonator includes a master resonator configured to resonate an electromagnetic wave, one structure or a pair of structures adjacent to each other, each of which is arranged at a position that overlaps one of resonance modes of the master resonator, is made up of a material in which a real part of a permittivity assumes a negative value, and an absolute value of the real part is larger than an absolute value of an imaginary part of the permittivity, and has a size which makes scattering that the electromagnetic wave suffers be Rayleigh scattering, and one or a plurality of particles, each of which is laid out near the structure by a distance smaller than the size of the structure.

Abstract: The present invention provides an electromagnetic wave resonator that is capable of showing surface wave resonance typically as outstanding plasmon resonance and can be manufactured industrially with excellent reproducibility and efficiency by combining currently available microprocessing technologies. The electromagnetic wave resonator of the present invention includes a first negative dielectric surface, a second negative dielectric surface and a positive dielectric thin film disposed between the first and the second negative dielectric surfaces. The positive dielectric thin film has an end face having an electromagnetic wave introduced therefrom. Intensity of the electromagnetic wave having a predetermined wavelength and being introduced from the end face is enhanced in the electromagnetic wave resonator due to resonance of a surface wave having an electric field component in a direction of film thickness of the positive dielectric thin film and without having a cut-off frequency.

Abstract: An optical apparatus includes a substrate comprising a layer of thermally insulating material disposed thereon; an optical resonator disposed on the layer of thermally insulating material; and a trench in the thermally insulating material disposed around at least a portion of the optical resonator. The optical resonator is substantially thermally isolated from the substrate.

Abstract: Provided are 3-dimensional standing type metamaterial structures and methods of fabricating the same. The 3-dimensional metamaterial structure includes a substrate; and a resonator, which includes a fixing unit fixed to the substrate; and a plurality of arms, which extend from the fixing unit and are curved upward on the substrate, wherein permittivity, permeability, and refractive index of the metamaterial structure in a predetermined frequency band differ from permittivity, permeability, and refractive index of the substrate. The resonator may be easily fabricated in MEMS/NEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system/nano-electro-mechanical system) processes.

Abstract: Provided is a laser apparatus including: a DFB fiber laser 40 including, as an amplitude medium, a rare earth doped silica optical fiber codoped with a high concentration of aluminum; an optical feedback path 50 formed by a ring-shaped optical fiber; and an optical coupler 70 a) feeding back a part of an output of the DFB fiber laser 40 to the DFB fiber laser 40 via the optical feedback path 50, and b) outputting, to outside, another part of the output of the DFB fiber laser 40, where the optical fiber forming the optical feedback path 50 is longer than a length at which a relaxation oscillation noise in the output to the outside becomes ?110 dB/Hz.

Abstract: A metamaterial structure is provided, including a substrate and a plurality of resonators that are provided on different surfaces of the substrate or different layers of the substrate. The resonators have resonance characteristics different from each other, and the metamaterial structure has a permittivity, a permeability, and a refractive index respectively different from those of the substrate in a predetermined frequency bandwidth.

Abstract: Various embodiments of the present invention relate to systems for reducing the amount of power consumed in temperature tuning resonator-based transmitters and receivers. In one aspect, a system comprises an array of resonators (801-806) disposed adjacent to a waveguide (646) and a heating element (808). The heating element is operated to thermally tune the array of resonators so that each resonator in a subset of the array of resonators is in resonance with a wavelength of light traveling in the waveguide.

Abstract: A tunable laser includes an optical gain medium, a first resonator, a periodically tunable optical filter, and a second resonator in which light of a laser wavelength exhibits a round trip time T. The optical filter is arranged between the first resonator and the second resonator and is tuned with a period t. The period t is governed by t=(n/m) T, where n and m are integers and m/n is not an integer.

Abstract: Devices having whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonators configured to meet requirements of various applications and facilitate fabrication of such devices.

Abstract: A light enhancement device includes at least two layers disposed over the substrate, including an adhesion layer disposed closer to the substrate than a metallic layer. At least one nanocavity extends into the metallic layer. The thickness of the adhesion layer and the diameter of the cavity have a ratio that is in the range of approximately 1:4 to 1:100. Capture molecules can be disposed within the nanocavities.

Abstract: A modular, compact and widely tunable laser system for the efficient generation of high peak and high average power ultrashort pulses. System compactness is ensured by employing efficient fiber amplifiers, directly or indirectly pumped by diode lasers. Dispersive broadening is introduced by dispersive pulse stretching in the presence of self-phase modulation and gain, resulting in the formation of high-power parabolic pulses. In addition, dispersive broadening is also introduced by simple fiber delay lines or chirped fiber gratings. The phase of the pulses in the dispersive delay line is controlled to quartic order by the use of fibers with varying amounts of waveguide dispersion or by controlling the chirp of the fiber gratings. After amplification, the dispersively stretched pulses can be re-compressed to nearly their bandwidth limit by the implementation of another set of dispersive delay lines.

Abstract: A new broadband source having a discrete set of spectral emission lines having high peak power in each line is provided by placing a gain medium in a reflective cavity comprising reflective front and back surfaces. A cavity feedback factor less than unity is achieved by providing reflectivity of one surface substantially lower than the reflectivity of the other surface such that spontaneous emission in the gain medium is linearly amplified just below the lasing threshold. In an alternative arrangement, a movable external back surface placed at a prescribed distance from the gain medium provides a means to achieve a free spectral range and finesse of the emission lines to match a pitch of a detector array in a SD-OCT system. By simultaneously providing high power to each detector element of the array, sensitivity and imaging speed of SD-OCT system are significantly improved.

Abstract: An optical element is disclosed which includes transparent superconductor material.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to semiconductor lasers and laser projection systems. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of operating a laser projection system is provided. According to the method, the laser projection system is utilized to display a sequence of pixelized image frames comprising an alternating sequence of relatively high intensity active projection periods ModON and relatively low intensity inactive projection periods ModOFF. A complementary control signal transitions between an active state QON during the relatively high intensity active projection periods ModON and an inactive state QOFF during the relatively low intensity inactive projection periods ModOFF.

Abstract: Multi-pass optical imaging apparatus includes a concave mirror in combination with two retro-reflecting mirror pairs and at least one reflective surface. The mirror, the retro-reflecting minor pairs and the reflecting surface are arranged such that a light-ray input into the apparatus parallel to and spaced apart from the optical axis of the concave mirror and incident on the concave mirror is caused to be incident on the thin-disk gain-medium at least four times, with each of the four incidences on the gain-medium being from a different direction. If the input ray is plane-polarized, the arrangement provides that the polarization orientation of the ray on each incidence on the gain-medium is in the same orientation.

Abstract: Helper resonators useful for the reliable, controlled startup of an associated high power multidisk unstable imaging thin disk laser (TDL) main resonator each includes one of the thin disk gain elements (TDGEs) of the associated main resonator and a pair of helper reflectors disposed on opposite sides thereof. The helper resonators act to prevent the buildup of undesirable amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) during startup of the main resonator, pre-condition the TDGEs so as to enable efficient power transfer from the helper resonators to the main resonator when the main resonator reaches a selected feedback ratio (FBR) and provide a rapidly acting shunt for disk power in the event of a cessation of lasing of the main resonator.

Abstract: A method for delaying transmitted light. The method may include illuminating a leaky-mode resonant element with light pulses of short duration and sequences of such pulses. The leaky-mode resonant element may include a spatially modulated periodic layer and may be configured so that at least some of the light is transmitted in a delayed manner.

Abstract: An unstable laser disk resonator combines the output laser power of multiple laser disks to produce a high power, single transverse mode laser output beam, which is near diffraction limited.

Abstract: A modulator includes an electro-optical substrate and a first and second waveguide formed of a doped semiconductor material positioned on a surface of an electro-optical substrate forming a slot therebetween. A doping level of the semiconductor material being chosen to make the first and second waveguide conductive. A dielectric material is positioned in the slot which increases confinement of both an optical field and an electrical field inside the slot. A refractive index of the semiconductor material and a refractive index of the dielectric material positioned in the slot being chosen to reduce the V?·L product of the modulator.