Tuning Patents (Class 372/20)
  • Patent number: 10720746
    Abstract: An optical element includes an optical waveguide layer. The optical waveguide includes a periodic structure of grooves. The optical waveguide layer has a layer-thickness equal to or greater than 1.5 ?m and is made of material selected from a group consisting of Ta2O5, Al2O3, LiNbO3, LiTaO3, AlN, GaN, SiC, and Yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG). (D/0.5?)?2.5 is satisfied where D indicates the depth of groove; and ? indicates the pitch of the arranged grooves in the periodic structure. The unit of ? is identical to the unit of D.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kousuke Niwa, Jungo Kondou, Shoichiro Yamaguchi, Keiichiro Asai
  • Patent number: 10714895
    Abstract: An optical source may include an optical gain chip that provides an optical signal and that is optically coupled to an SOI chip. The optical gain chip may include a reflective layer. Moreover, the SOI chip may include: a common optical waveguide, a splitter that splits the optical signal into optical signals, a first pair of resonators that are selectively optically coupled to the common optical waveguide and that are configured to perform modulation and filtering of the optical signals, and a first bus optical waveguide that is selectively optically coupled to the first pair of resonators. Furthermore, resonance wavelengths of the resonators may be offset from each other with a (e.g., fixed) separation approximately equal or corresponding to a modulation amplitude, and a reflectivity of the first pair of resonators may be approximately independent of the modulation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: Axalume, Inc.
    Inventors: Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy, Jock Bovington, Xuezhe Zheng, Saman Saeedi
  • Patent number: 10707647
    Abstract: A technique for narrowing a linewidth of a plurality of lines of a coherent comb laser (CCL) concurrently comprises providing a mode-locked semiconductor coherent comb laser (CCL) adapted to output of at least 4 mode-locked lines; tapping a fraction of a power from the CCL from the laser cavity to form a tapped beam; propagating the tapped beam to an attenuator to produce an attenuated beam; and reinserting the attenuated beam into the laser cavity, where the reinserted beam has a power less than 10% of a power of the tapped beam. The reinsertion allows the CCL to be operated to output the mode-locked lines, each with a linewidth of less than 80% of the original linewidth. By propagating the tapped and attenuated beams on a solid waveguide, and ensuring that the secondary cavity is polarization maintaining, improved stability of the linewidth narrowing is ensured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: National Research Council of Canada
    Inventors: Zhenguo Lu, Jiaren Liu, Philip Poole, Chunying Song, Shoude Chang
  • Patent number: 10707648
    Abstract: A technique for narrowing a linewidth of a plurality of lines of a coherent comb laser (CCL) concurrently comprises providing a mode-locked semiconductor coherent comb laser (CCL) adapted to output of at least 4 mode-locked lines; tapping a fraction of a power from the CCL from the laser cavity to form a tapped beam; propagating the tapped beam to an attenuator to produce an attenuated beam; and reinserting the attenuated beam into the laser cavity, where the reinserted beam has a power less than 10% of a power of the tapped beam. The reinsertion allows the CCL to be operated to output the mode-locked lines, each with a linewidth of less than 80% of the original linewidth. By propagating the tapped and attenuated beams on a solid waveguide, and ensuring that the secondary cavity is polarization maintaining, improved stability of the linewidth narrowing is ensured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: National Research Council of Canada
    Inventors: Zhenguo Lu, Jiaren Liu, Philip Poole, Chunying Song, Shoude Chang
  • Patent number: 10700491
    Abstract: A semiconductor laser is for generating colored light. The semiconductor laser oscillates in a longitudinal multimode. A width of a wavelength band with an intensity equal to or more than ?20 dB relative to a peak intensity in a spectrum distribution of output light is equal to or less than 15 nm. A light source device may include The semiconductor laser; a wavelength estimating device configured to estimate a wavelength ? of light from the semiconductor laser; and an emission-light intensity setting unit configured to set an emission light intensity of the semiconductor laser in accordance with an estimation result by the wavelength estimating device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Kohji Sakai, Miho Higuchi
  • Patent number: 10700788
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for compensating for wavelength drift are disclosed. The method includes: generating, by a burst control circuit, a burst bias current; sending, by the burst control circuit, the burst bias current to a light emitting part and a trigger; converting, by the trigger, the received burst bias current into burst DA data; sending, by the trigger, the burst DA data to a synthesizer circuit; receiving, by the synthesizer circuit, the burst DA data sent by the trigger and the calibrated DA data sent by the MCU respectively; synthesizing, by the synthesizer circuit, the burst DA data and the calibrated DA data to obtain a synthesized signal; and sending, by the synthesizer circuit, the synthesized signal to a temperature control part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: WUHAN TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Zhenfeng Xue, Yongan Fu, Liping Sun, Jun Zhang, Yaping Lv, Ting Gao, Chao Luo, Chaoqun Wu
  • Patent number: 10677771
    Abstract: Methods, systems and computer program products for detecting gas leaks using a drone are provided. Aspects include capturing a first set of data regarding a presence of a gas in the geographic area while flying along the initial flight path. Aspects also include creating secondary flight paths through regions in the geographic area in which the presence of the gas exceeds a threshold amount and capturing a second set of data regarding a concentration of the gas in the one or more regions while flying along the secondary flight paths. Aspects further include capturing wind data while flying along the initial and second flight paths and creating a three-dimensional gas plume model for gas leaks identified in the geographic area based on the first set of data, the second set of data and the wind data, wherein the three-dimensional gas plume model identifies a source of the gas leaks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Matthias Dittberner, Levente Klein, Jason D. Renwick
  • Patent number: 10680408
    Abstract: A quantum dot comb laser includes a body defining a lasing cavity and an extension defining an external cavity, the FSR of the lasing cavity being an inverse of an integer multiple of the FSR of the external cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
    Inventors: Geza Kurczveil, Chong Zhang, Di Liang, Raymond G. Beausoleil
  • Patent number: 10680410
    Abstract: Practical silicon-based light sources are still missing, despite the progress in germanium lasers, because both silicon and germanium are indirect-band semiconductors and inefficient at light generation. A tunable and single mode external cavity laser comprising: a gain medium for generating light between a reflective surface at one end of the gain medium; and a wavelength selective reflector at the other end of a laser cavity. A splitter disposed in the laser cavity includes an input port optically coupled to the gain medium, an input/output port optically coupled to the wavelength selective reflector, and an output port for outputting laser light at selected wavelengths. The wavelength selective reflector reflects light of one or more selected periodic wavelengths back to the gain medium via the input/output port, and passes light of non-selected wavelengths out of the laser cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Elenion Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Yangjin Ma, Yang Liu, Ruizhi Shi, Thomas Wetteland Baehr-Jones, Saeed Fathololoumi
  • Patent number: 10680409
    Abstract: A Distributed Feedback Laser comprises a layer stack comprising a p-layer, an n-layer which are arranged so as to form an pn-junction having an active layer in between. Within the layer stack, an index coupled grating layer or a grating layer is arranged which comprises a first, a second, and a third grating portion. The first, the second, and the third grating portions are asymmetrically arranged along a lateral dimension of the layer stack, wherein the second grating portion is formed without a grating structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventor: Martin Moehrle
  • Patent number: 10673205
    Abstract: A method of controlling a wavelength of a wavelength tunable laser module includes: referring to data of measured frequencies and wavelength filter control values at two or more points for each basic frequency channel, the data being stored in a memory of a controller; selecting the basic frequency channel closest to a frequency of laser light that a laser light source is instructed to emit; calculating a first wavelength filter control value for providing the instructed frequency of laser light from the data of the measured frequencies allocated to the basic frequency channel closest to the instructed frequency and the wavelength filter control values; and controlling the transmission characteristic of a wavelength filter using the first wavelength filter control value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masayoshi Nishita, Kengo Muranushi, Atsushi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 10666016
    Abstract: Higher power tunable lasers are feasible using photonics integrated circuit based external cavity laser configurations by using multiple RSOAs inside a single cavity to provide multiple on-chip coherent optical output at the same wavelength. The total collective output power in various output branches potentially adds up being higher than what commercial lasers can provide. Using multiple RSOA increases and distributes the number of gain materials, which keeps them in a linear regime and avoids available gain saturation, which thereby removes gain saturation limitation in optical amplifications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: Elenion Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Wetteland Baehr-Jones, Saeed Fathololoumi
  • Patent number: 10651820
    Abstract: A signal processing apparatus, being configured for transmitting and receiving coherent parallel optical signals, comprises a transmitter apparatus including a first single soliton micro-resonator device and a modulator device, wherein the first single soliton micro-resonator device is adapted for creating a single soliton providing a first frequency comb, wherein the first frequency comb provides a plurality of equidistant optical carriers with a frequency spacing corresponding to a free spectral range of the first single soliton micro-resonator device, and the modulator device is adapted for modulating the optical carriers according to data to be transmitted, and a receiver apparatus including a coherent receiver device with a plurality of coherent receivers and a local oscillator device providing a plurality of reference optical signals, wherein the coherent receiver device and the local oscillator device are arranged for coherently detecting the transmitted modulated optical carriers, wherein the signal p
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)
    Inventors: Tobias Kippenberg, Christian Koos, Pablo Marin-Palomo, Juned Nassir Kemal
  • Patent number: 10637208
    Abstract: A tunable laser device based on silicon photonics includes a substrate configured with a patterned region comprising one or more vertical stoppers, an edge stopper facing a first direction, a first alignment feature structure formed in the patterned region along the first direction, and a bond pad disposed between the vertical stoppers. Additionally, the tunable laser includes an integrated coupler built in the substrate located at the edge stopper and a laser diode chip including a gain region covered by a P-type electrode and a second alignment feature structure formed beyond the P-type electrode. The laser diode chip is flipped to rest against the one or more vertical stoppers with the P-type electrode attached to the bond pad and the gain region coupled to the integrated coupler. Moreover, the tunable laser includes a tuning filter fabricated in the substrate and coupled via a wire waveguide to the integrated coupler.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: INPHI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Radhakrishnan L. Nagarajan, Masaki Kato, Nourhan Eid, Kenneth Ling Wong
  • Patent number: 10615571
    Abstract: A tunable source includes a short-cavity laser optimized for performance and reliability in SSOCT imaging systems, spectroscopic detection systems, and other types of detection and sensing systems. The short cavity laser has a large free spectral range cavity, fast tuning response and single transverse, longitudinal and polarization mode operation, and includes embodiments for fast and wide tuning, and optimized spectral shaping. Disclosed are both electrical and optical pumping in a MEMS-VCSEL geometry with mirror and gain regions optimized for wide tuning, high output power, and a variety of preferred wavelength ranges; and a semiconductor optical amplifier, combined with the short-cavity laser to produce high-power, spectrally shaped operation. Several preferred imaging and detection systems make use of this tunable source for optimized operation are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignees: Thorlabs, Inc., Praevium Research, Inc.
    Inventors: Alex Ezra Cable, Vijaysekhar Jayaraman, Benjamin Michael Potsaid
  • Patent number: 10612906
    Abstract: There is described an interferometer for use in an optical locker. The interferometer comprises at least two transparent materials having different thermal path length sensitivities. The interferometer is configured such that an input beam is split by the interferometer into first and second intermediate beams, which recombine to form an output beam, the first and second intermediate beams travelling along respective first and second intermediate beam paths which do not overlap. At least one of the intermediate beam paths passes through at least two of the transparent materials. A length of each intermediate beam path which passes through each transparent material is selected such that an optical path difference between the first and second intermediate beam path is substantially independent of temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Lumentum Technology UK Limited
    Inventor: Adrian Perrin Janssen
  • Patent number: 10584959
    Abstract: A FBG strain sensor arrangement includes a sensor carrier of steel sheet to which a FBG strain sensor is fastened. A protective cover has a first part configured thin and narrow and bonded to the sensor carrier along an optical fiber so that the optical fiber lying underneath is fixed with a fiber Bragg grating on the sensor carrier. The protective cover is enlarged at each end portion of the optical fiber to thereby form a cavity underneath, with edges of the enlarged second part of the protective cover being bonded to the sensor carrier. Arranged in the cavity is an elastic filler which embeds the coupling points in a vibration damping manner. The protective cover with elastic filler accommodates thermal expansions and functions for dynamic measurements by the vibration damping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH
    Inventors: Jochen Maul, Tobias Kipp, Bernd Günther, Maria Marta Cabral Bobião Girão, Francisco Manuel Moita Araújo
  • Patent number: 10587094
    Abstract: A semiconductor laser source includes a partial-grating DFB laser with two laser electrodes, one over the grating and the other between the grating and one end of the laser. Constant laser currents flow into the waveguide through the electrodes (typically different from each other) and produce laser output. A wavelength discriminator, an optical detector, and a wavelength-control circuit act as a wavelength-control feedback mechanism to generate a wavelength control current that flows through one laser electrode or the other, or through both electrodes with opposite polarities. Phase noise on the laser output can be reduced at modulation frequencies exceeding several hundred kHz up to one or several tens of MHz or more. The laser-wavelength can be swept while exhibiting reduced phase noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: Emcore Corporation
    Inventor: Henry A. Blauvelt
  • Patent number: 10560184
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed, including an optical switching system comprising an upstream optical signal detector between a first node and a second node configured to detect optical signals from the second node and to switch data traffic from a working path to a protecting path when optical signals from the second node are indicative of a failure in the working path; wherein the first node is configured to transmit data traffic in first optical signals with wavelengths in channels in a first band and receive the data traffic in second optical signals with wavelengths in channels in a second band from the second node; and one or more optical filter, between the second node and the upstream optical signal detector, configured to block signals with wavelengths in the first band that are reflected because of a break in the path between the optical filter and the second node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Infinera Corporation
    Inventors: Bengt Johansson, Ola Wikström
  • Patent number: 10522972
    Abstract: In accordance with one aspect of the present application there is provided a DBR, laser. The DBR laser comprises a phase section in a cavity of the DBR laser configured to adjust an optical path length of the cavity. The laser also comprises a DBR section comprising a frequency tuning system, the frequency tuning system comprising a resistance heater configured to apply heat to a grating of the DBR section in order to adjust a Bragg frequency of the DBR section. A detector is configured to detect laser light transmitted through the DBR section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Lumentum Technology UK Limited
    Inventor: Andrew Cannon Carter
  • Patent number: 10523357
    Abstract: A laser component includes multiple laser devices arranged in an array to include different emission wavelengths, and a driving unit that, while switching each of the laser devices along the array into a turn-ON-enabled state that enables the laser device to turn to an ON state, brings one of the laser devices that has an emission wavelength corresponding to a predetermined wavelength into an ON state and maintains the ON state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Takashi Kondo
  • Patent number: 10502901
    Abstract: A tunable light source includes a light source; a wavelength selecting device that selects, according to a control signal, output light with a specific wavelength from light output from the light source; and a wavelength monitor including a wavelength filter including multiple output ports corresponding to filtering paths through which the output light passes, and a light-receiving device that is disposed to face one of the output ports and receives light output from the one of the output ports. The wavelength filter is configured such that a maximum quantity of the light output from the one of the output ports facing the light-receiving device becomes greater than a maximum quantity of light output from another one of the output ports.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: FUJITSU OPTICAL COMPONENTS LIMITED
    Inventor: Masaki Sugiyama
  • Patent number: 10490978
    Abstract: The present invention provides a surface emitting laser the wavelength-tunable band of which is wide. The wavelength-tunable surface emitting laser includes a first reflector (101), an active layer (103) disposed on the first reflector (101), a beam portion (110) disposed over the active layer (103) with an air gap therebetween, and a second reflector (120) disposed on the beam portion (110). The second reflector (120) has a distributed Bragg reflector consisting of a stack of dielectric layers. The beam portion (110) has a distributed Bragg reflector consisting of a stack of conductive semiconductor layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yasuhiro Nagatomo
  • Patent number: 10483718
    Abstract: A laser including: a gain chip; an external cavity incorporating a Bragg grating; and a baseplate; wherein a first end of the gain chip has a high reflectivity facet forming a first end of the laser cavity; a second end of the gain chip has a low reflectivity facet; and a second part of the external cavity comprises a Bragg grating, supported by the baseplate, the temperature of the baseplate being maintained through a feedback loop; wherein the optical length of the external cavity is at least an order of magnitude greater than the optical length of the gain chip; wherein the Bragg grating is physically long and occupies a majority of the length of the external cavity and is apodized to control the sidemodes of the grating reflection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: Morton Photonics, Inc.
    Inventor: Paul Morton
  • Patent number: 10466421
    Abstract: Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) has enabled telecommunication service providers to provide multiple independent multi-gigabit channels on one optical fiber. To meet demands for improved performance, increased integration, reduced footprint, reduced power consumption, increased flexibility, re-configurability, and lower cost monolithic optical circuit technologies and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have become increasingly important. However, further integration via microoptoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS) of monolithically integrated optical waveguides upon a MEMS provide further integration opportunities and functionality options. Such MOEMS may include MOEMS mirrors and optical waveguides capable of deflection under electronic control. In contrast to MEMS devices where the MEMS is simply used to switch between two positions the state of MOEMS becomes important in all transition positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Aeponyx Inc.
    Inventors: Francois Menard, Michael Menard, Frederic Nabki, Martin Berard, Jonathan Briere
  • Patent number: 10451806
    Abstract: An optical frequency comb generator device is disclosed. In one implementation, the optical frequency comb generator device comprises a bus waveguide, at least a first optical ring resonator optically coupled to the bus waveguide, and at least a first grating located on the first optical ring resonator opposite from the bus waveguide. The first optical ring resonator and the first grating are configured to generate counter-propagating optical frequency combs that are offset from each other at a controllable bandwidth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew Wade Puckett, Neil A. Krueger, Jianfeng Wu
  • Patent number: 10439363
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a quantum cascade laser beam source (1) includes: preparing a semiconductor stacked body (20); forming a pair of first excavated portions (41 and 42) and a ridge portion which is interposed between the pair of first excavated portions (41 and 42); forming channel structures (51 and 52) and circumferential edge portions (61 and 62) which are formed to interpose the channel structures (51 and 52) between the ridge portion (30) and the circumferential edge portion; forming an electrode pattern (81) in contact with a first area (29a) and forming an electrode pattern (82) in contact with a second area (22a); fixing a crystal growth surface side to a support substrate (91); removing an Fe-doped (semi-insulating) InP single-crystal substrate (21); fixing a Si substrate (93); and peeling the support substrate (91).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K.
    Inventors: Akio Ito, Kazuue Fujita, Daisuke Kawaguchi, Tatsuo Dougakiuchi, Tadataka Edamura
  • Patent number: 10439357
    Abstract: Examples of the present disclosure include a tunable laser comprising a waveguide including gain section. The waveguide overlies and is optically coupled to another waveguide. The another waveguide has a reflector at one end. A laser cavity is formed in the waveguides.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
    Inventors: Stanley Cheung, Michael Renne Ty Tan, Wayne V Sorin, Joaquin Matres Abril, Sagi Mathai
  • Patent number: 10401377
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system comprising a light source configured to produce an emitted light beam. An etalon is positioned to receive the light beam and is configured to generate a plurality of product light beams. The etalon is mounted to a support structure at one or more pivot points. A detector is positioned to receive and configured to measure intensity values for the product light beams. A computing device is coupled to the detector. The computing device includes a processor and a memory coupled to the processor so that the processor executes programmed instructions stored in the memory to determine, based on the measured intensity values, a change in position of the etalon relative to the one or more pivot points. Also disclosed are methods for measuring the vibration and monitoring the condition of an object utilizing the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: Micatu Inc.
    Inventors: Atul Pradhan, Michael Oshetski
  • Patent number: 10401603
    Abstract: A device and method are for shaping and scanning an ultrafast laser beam. The device includes a laser source configured to output a pulsed laser beam containing different frequency spectrum, a digital micromirror device (DMD) consisting of micromirrors, which are configured to receive the laser beam and shape the received laser beam with computer generated holograms, and a dispersion compensation unit, arranged before or after the DMD, which is configured to transfer the laser beam from the laser source to the DMD with a designated angular dispersion for neutralizing the first angular dispersion introduced by the DMD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
    Inventors: Shih-Chi Chen, Jiyi Cheng, Chenglin Gu, Dapeng Zhang
  • Patent number: 10348053
    Abstract: A tunable laser has a solid state laser medium having an optical gain region and generates coherent radiation through a facet. A lens collects the coherent radiation and generates a collimated light beam. Components of an external cavity include a reflective surface and an optical filter, the reflective surface reflecting the collimated beam back to the lens and the laser medium, the optical filter positioned between the reflective surface and the lens and having two surfaces with a thermally tunable optical transmission band within the optical gain region of the laser medium. The optical filter (1) transmits a predominant portion of the collimated beam at a desired wavelength of operation, and (2) specularly reflects a remaining portion of the collimated beam from each surface, the collimated beam being incident on the optical filter such that the reflected collimated beams propagate at a non-zero angle with respect to the incident collimated beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Redshift Bioanalytics, Inc.
    Inventors: Eugene Yi-Shan Ma, Charles M. Marshall
  • Patent number: 10326250
    Abstract: A method for expanding a tuning range of an all-solid-state continuous-wave single-frequency laser is provided. The method includes inserting a nonlinear frequency-doubling crystal into a laser resonant cavity, and converting a part of intra-cavity fundamental-frequency light to frequency-doubled light by the nonlinear frequency-doubling crystal, outputting the generated frequency-doubled light and the fundamental-frequency light together from the laser resonant cavity, and separating the two via a spectroscope. The method also includes splitting a part of the fundamental-frequency light reflected by the spectroscope through an optical beam-splitter, and outputting the remaining part of the fundamental-frequency light as a main laser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignee: Shanxi University
    Inventors: Huadong Lu, Pixian Jin, Jing Su, Kunchi Peng
  • Patent number: 10300558
    Abstract: A laser processing machine includes a laser oscillator. The laser oscillator excites a laser beam having a wavelength in a 1 ?m band or a shorter wavelength band. One process fiber transmits the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator. A focusing optical element focuses, when a workpiece is irradiated with the laser beam emitted from the process fiber, the laser beam on a plurality of spots in a unit area within a unit time, the unit area having a radius of 0.5 mm of an optical axis of the laser beam, and the unit time being a time from when the workpiece starts to melt to when the melting of the workpiece ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: AMADA HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sako, Hiroaki Ishiguro, Akihiko Sugiyama, Yuya Mizoguchi
  • Patent number: 10295746
    Abstract: An optical filter for attenuating higher-order modes in an optical waveguide includes a shoulder slab formed of a first material having a first index of refraction and disposed on a second material having a second index of refraction, the first index of refraction being higher than the second index of refraction. The shoulder slab defines a near end having a first width, an intermediate section, adjacent to the first end section, and a far end section, adjacent to the intermediate section and opposite the first end section along a direction of beam propagation. The optical filter also includes a waveguide ridge, formed of the first material and disposed atop the shoulder slab, that traverses the shoulder slab, and is configured to guide light of a fundamental mode along the direction of beam propagation from the near end section to the far end section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Skorpios Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Majid Sodagar, Murtaza Askari, Guoliang Li
  • Patent number: 10297973
    Abstract: A tunable laser has a first mirror, a second mirror, a gain medium, and a directional coupler. The first mirror and the second mirror form an optical resonator. The gain medium and the directional coupler are, at least partially, in an optical path of the optical resonator. The first mirror and the second mirror comprise binary super gratings. Both the first mirror and the second mirror have high reflectivity. The directional coupler provides an output coupler for the tunable laser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Skorpios Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Hacene Chaouch, Guoliang Li
  • Patent number: 10288483
    Abstract: A method is performed for estimating the optical spectrum of a light beam. The method includes: projecting the light beam onto distinct spatial areas of a spectrometer, wherein each spatial area receives a different filtered version of the optical spectrum; detecting a characteristic of the projected light beam at each of the distinct spatial areas of the spectrometer; receiving a two-dimensional matrix in which each entry of the matrix provides a relationship between one or more spatial areas and each spectral feature, wherein the two-dimensional matrix is related to the input-output relationship of the spectrometer; and estimating the optical spectrum of the light beam based on an analysis that uses both the detected light beam characteristics and the received two-dimensional matrix.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: Cymer, LLC
    Inventor: Brian Edward King
  • Patent number: 10288870
    Abstract: A wavelength tunable gain medium with the use of micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) based Fabry-Perot (FP) filter cavity tuning is provided as a tunable laser. The system comprises a laser cavity and a filter cavity for wavelength selection. The laser cavity consists of a gain medium such as a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA), two collimating lenses and an end reflector. The MEMS-FP filter cavity comprises a fixed reflector and a moveable reflector, controllable by electrostatic force. By moving the MEMS reflector, the wavelength can be tuned by changing the FP filter cavity length. The MEMS FP filter cavity displacement can be tuned discretely with a step voltage, or continuously by using a continuous driving voltage. The driving frequency for continuous tuning can be a resonance frequency or any other frequency of the MEMS structure, and the tuning range can cover different tuning ranges such as 30 nm, 40 nm, and more than 100 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: INPHENIX, INC
    Inventors: Mohammad Kamal, Tongning Li, David Eu, Qinian Qi
  • Patent number: 10281256
    Abstract: An agile optical imaging system for optical coherence tomography imaging using a tunable source comprising a wavelength tunable VCL laser is disclosed. The tunable source has long coherence length and is capable of high sweep repetition rate, as well as changing the sweep trajectory, sweep speed, sweep repetition rate, sweep linearity, and emission wavelength range on the fly to support multiple modes of OCT imaging. The imaging system also offers new enhanced dynamic range imaging capability for accommodating bright reflections. Multiscale imaging capability allows measurement over orders of magnitude dimensional scales. The imaging system and methods for generating the waveforms to drive the tunable laser in flexible and agile modes of operation are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignees: THORLABS, INC., PRAEVIUM RESEARCH, INC.
    Inventors: Alex Ezra Cable, Vijaysekhar Jayaraman, James Jiang, Benjamin Potsaid
  • Patent number: 10283934
    Abstract: A semiconductor laser oscillator includes laser diode modules. A temperature sensor directly or indirectly detects a temperature of at least one of the laser diode modules. A collimating lens collimates respective lasers emitted from the laser diode modules. A grating performs spectrum beam coupling for the lasers emitted from the collimating lens. An incident angle varying mechanism changes incident angles of the respective lasers, at which the lasers emitted from the collimating lens are incident onto the grating in response to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: AMADA HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kaori Usuda
  • Patent number: 10270533
    Abstract: A method of controlling a wavelength of a wavelength tunable laser module includes: referring to data of measured frequencies and wavelength filter control values at two or more points for each basic frequency channel, the data being stored in a memory of a controller; selecting the basic frequency channel closest to a frequency of laser light that a laser light source is instructed to emit; calculating a first wavelength filter control value for providing the instructed frequency of laser light from the data of the measured frequencies allocated to the basic frequency channel closest to the instructed frequency and the wavelength filter control values; and controlling the transmission characteristic of a wavelength filter using the first wavelength filter control value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masayoshi Nishita, Kengo Muranushi, Atsushi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 10270222
    Abstract: A semiconductor laser source wherein a waveguide in which a filter is produced is made of a material that is less sensitive to temperature. The laser source also includes a tuning device able to shift the possible resonant wavelengths ??Rj of a Fabry-Pérot optical cavity in response to an electrical controlling signal, a sensor able to measure a physical quantity representative of the difference between a central wavelength ?Cf of the filter and one of the possible wavelengths ?Rj, and an electronic circuit able to generate, depending on the physical quantity measured by the sensor, the electrical signal controlling the tuning device in order to keep one wavelength ?Rj at the center of each passband of the filter that selects an emission wavelength ?Li of the laser source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: Commissariat A L'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives
    Inventor: Sylvie Menezo
  • Patent number: 10261391
    Abstract: The invention relates to an optoelectronic device for generation of a frequency comb comprising: a laser source (2); an optical micro-resonator (3), comprising a resonant ring (20); at least one waveguide (30) optically coupled to the resonant ring (20), having an effective index associated with a fundamental optical mode supported by the filtering guide (30) equal to an effective index associated with an optical higher order mode supported by the resonant ring (20).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignees: Commissariat A L'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, THALES
    Inventors: Marco Casale, Houssein El Dirani, Corrado Sciancalepore
  • Patent number: 10263384
    Abstract: A single loop hardware-based system for producing laser pulses in a microsecond scale operational mode includes a GUI to enable a user to select the operational mode of the system; a laser source for producing one or more laser beam pulses, the laser source being a diode laser pump source module; a DSP which enables and disables a hardware-based FPGA. The FPGA controls the diode pump source module. When a user selects one or more microsecond scale laser sub-pulses on the GUI, the DSP transmits to the FPGA the sub-pulse energy level and the sub-pulse on-time selected by the user on the GUI. A photodetector operatively connected to the hardware-based system measures the power of the laser pulse beam that was transmitted to the photodetector and, in a feedback mode, transmits a feedback signal of that power measurement to the FPGA. The FPGA compares the power of the laser beam measured by the photodetector to the power of the laser beam selected by the user on the GUI.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: Lumenis Ltd.
    Inventors: Christopher Cannon, Idan Aviad, Yair Manor, Yehoram Har-Even, Alon Shacham, Albert Ben-Shlomo
  • Patent number: 10256598
    Abstract: The disclosed method and apparatus for stabilizing a mode-locked regime of a fiber ring oscillator based on a NPR include tapping a portion of light, which has a broad spectral bandwidth, from a fiber ring resonator into at least first and second control channels. The control channels are configured to guide respective first and second fractions of the tapped portion. One of the control channels is provided with a bandpass filter operative to extract a region from the broad spectral bandwidth. The fractions with respective full spectral bandwidth and region thereof are then evaluated in a central processing unit which is operable to generate a control signal if a predetermined criterion is not met. The control signal is received by one or more polarization controller units operative to dynamically modulate a state of polarization of light in the fiber ring resonator until the evaluation meets the predetermined criterion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: IPG PHOTONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daniil Myasnikov, Ilya Bychkov
  • Patent number: 10256606
    Abstract: A wavelength-tunable external cavity laser comprises a semiconductor optical amplifier chip and a laser external cavity, the laser external cavity comprising a grid filter, a phase adjustor and a silicon-based micro-ring chip, the grid filter and the silicon-based micro-ring chip constituting a wavelength-tunable optical filter which implements wavelength tuning by spectral tuning of the grid filter and/or the silicon-based micro-ring chip. A micro-ring filter in the silicon-based micro-ring chip of the tunable external-cavity laser is manufactured by adopting a mature silicon light technology, which can greatly reduce a manufacturing difficulty of the adjustable filter, and reduce the manufacturing cost of a device. An existing external-cavity adjustable technology platform may be used for smooth transition, so as to improve the degree of integration of this type of device and simplify a preparation process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: Accelink Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shenglei Hu, Yanfeng Fu, Yi Tang, Di Zhang, Shiyu Li, Xuesheng Tang, Kun Qian, Weidong Ma, Qianggao Hu
  • Patent number: 10251702
    Abstract: In some embodiments, the instant invention provides for a system that includes at least the following components: (i) an Alexandrite laser pumping subsystem; where the Alexandrite laser pumping subsystem is configured to: 1) produce wavelengths between 700 and 820 nm, and 2) produce a pump pulse having: i) a duration between 1 to 10 milliseconds, and ii) an energy measuring up to 100 Joules; where the Alexandrite laser pumping subsystem includes: 1) an optical fiber, and 2) a Lens system, (ii) a Thulium doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Tm:YAG) laser subsystem; where the Tm:YAG laser subsystem includes: 1) a Tm:YAG gain medium, 2) a rod heat sink, and 3) at least one cooling device, (iii) a wavelength selecting device, where the wavelength selecting device is configured to deliver a wavelength between 1.75 microns to 2.1 microns; and where the system is configured to produce a high energy conversion efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: Light Age, Inc.
    Inventors: Chunbai Wu, Donald F. Heller
  • Patent number: 10236411
    Abstract: A light-emitting device comprises a first light-emitting semiconductor stack comprising a first active layer; a second light-emitting semiconductor stack below the first light-emitting semiconductor stack, wherein the second light-emitting semiconductor stack comprises a second active layer; a reflector between the first light-emitting semiconductor stack and the second light-emitting semiconductor stack; a protecting layer between the reflector and the second light-emitting semiconductor stack; and wherein the first light-emitting semiconductor stack further comprises a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer sandwiching the first active layer, the second light-emitting semiconductor stack further comprises a third semiconductor layer and a fourth semiconductor layer sandwiching the second active layer, wherein the second semiconductor layer has a first band gap, the third semiconductor layer has a second band gap, and the protecting layer has a third band gap between the first band gap an
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: EPISTAR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chih-Chiang Lu, Yi-Chieh Lin, Wen-Luh Liao, Shou-Lung Chen, Chien-Fu Huang
  • Patent number: 10225018
    Abstract: A transmitter (TX) for a WDM optical link includes a light source (CS) generating a plurality of discrete lines (EL) with different frequencies (f), a plurality of modulators (FSM, RRM, MZM), each modulator (FSM, RRM, MZM) being configured to modulate one of the discrete lines (EL) according to a data stream (c1-c4), at least one optical amplifier (SOA) configured to simultaneously amplify multiple lines (EL), wherein only a subset of the generated lines (EL) is routed to the optical amplifier (SOA) resp. to each one of the optical amplifiers (SOA). A receiver (RX) for an optical link adapted to work together with the transmitter (TX) is also described. An optical link including the transmitter (TX) and/or the receiver (RX), and a method to operate said link are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: RWTH Aachen
    Inventors: Jeremy Witzens, Florian Merget, Juliana Mueller
  • Patent number: 10205301
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including a laser including a layer having first and second regions, the first region including a void; a mirror section provided on the layer, the mirror section including a waveguide core, at least part of the waveguide core is provided over at least a portion of the void; a first grating provided on the waveguide core; a first cladding layer provided between the layer and the waveguide core and supported by the second region of the layer; a second cladding layer provided on the waveguide core; and a heat source configured to change a temperature of at least one of the waveguide core and the grating, where an optical mode propagating in the waveguide core of the mirror section does not incur substantial loss due to interaction with portions of the mirror section above and below the waveguide core.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Infinera Corporation
    Inventors: Peter W Evans, Mingzhi Lu, Fred A. Kish, Jr., Vikrant Lal, Scott Corzine, John W. Osenbach, Jin Yan
  • Patent number: 10197752
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for a monolithic multi-optical-waveguide penetrator or connector. One example apparatus generally includes a plurality of large diameter optical waveguides, each having a core and a cladding, and a body having a plurality of bores with the optical waveguides disposed therein, wherein at least a portion of the cladding of each of the optical waveguides is fused with the body, such that the apparatus is a monolithic structure. Such an apparatus provides for a cost- and space-efficient technique for feedthrough of multiple optical waveguides. Also, the body may have a large outer diameter which can be shaped into features of interest, such as connection alignment or feedthrough sealing features.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: WEATHERFORD TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS, LLC
    Inventor: Thomas W. F. Engel