Optical Fiber Laser Patents (Class 372/6)
  • Patent number: 8724673
    Abstract: A pulse fiber laser device 1 has a Fabry-Perot type optical resonator, and is provided with an excitation light source 11, an optical coupling unit 12, an amplifying optical fiber 13, a saturable absorber 14, a gradient index lens 15, an optical output unit 16, a dispersion adjusting unit 17, a mirror 21 and a mirror 22. The saturable absorber 14 and the mirror 21, integrated into one body, constitute a saturable absorber mirror 23. The gradient index lens 15 converges the light output from an end face of an optical fiber 32 and outputs the light to the saturable absorber mirror 23, and inputs the light reflected from the saturable absorber mirror 23 into the end face of the optical fiber 32. Thus, there is provided a pulse fiber laser device that enables easy adjustment of the intensity of light incident on a saturable absorber and facilitates miniaturization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Kodai Fukazawa, Masatoshi Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 8724215
    Abstract: The invention can include an apparatus for producing optical pulses, comprising an oscillator for producing optical pulses at a first optical pulse repetition frequency, the optical pulses having a first wavelength; a first optical fiber amplifier; a second optical fiber amplifier; a pulse picker located between the first and second optical fiber amplifiers, the pulse picker operable to reduce the optical pulse repetition frequency of optical pulses, wherein the first amplifier amplifies optical pulses at the first optical pulse repetition frequency and the second amplifier amplifies optical pulses at a reduced optical pulse repetition frequency that is less than the first optical pulse repetition frequency; a nonlinear optical fiber receiving amplified optical pulses having the reduced optical pulse repetition frequency and the first wavelength to produce, at the reduced optical pulse frequency, optical pulses that include one or more nonlinearly produced wavelengths different than the first wavelength; and
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Fianium Ltd.
    Inventors: John Redvers Clowes, Anatoly Borisovich Grudinin, Ian Michael Godfrey, Kestutis Vysniauskas
  • Patent number: 8724669
    Abstract: A power supply for laser systems is configured with a DC power source having an output source voltage, an energy accumulator operatively connected to the output of the DC power source, and a pump. Coupled between the accumulator and source is a first DC to DC stage with at least one switched-mode power converter which is operative to charge the accumulator with voltage. The charged voltage may be same or different from the source voltage. The power supply further includes a second DC to DC stage with at least one switched-mode power converter coupled between the accumulator and pump and operative to discharge accumulator to the same or different output voltage. The DC to DC converters are configured so that current pulses at the input of the pump each have a peak value greater than the power source current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: IPG Photonics Corporation
    Inventor: Sergey Guskov
  • Patent number: 8718104
    Abstract: An optical pulse source for generating optical supercontinuum pulses comprises an optical pump laser operable to generate optical pump pulses at a pump pulse repetition rate Rf; a nonlinear optical element comprising an optical fiber for generating optical supercontinuum pulses; an optical modulator operable to selectively control the launch of pump pulses into the optical fiber at a reduced, lower repetition rate Rr=Rf/N in order to generate optical supercontinuum pulses at a selectable and lower repetition rate; an optical fiber amplifier located between the optical modulator and the optical pump laser; wherein the optical supercontinuum pulses generated by the optical fiber have a supercontinuum spanning from below 450 nm to greater than 2000 nm; wherein the optical pulse source is provided with a microprocessor configured to determine when supercontinuum pulses are delivered; and wherein the optical pulse source is configured to provide an output trigger signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2014
    Assignee: Fianium Ltd.
    Inventors: John Redvers Clowes, Anatoly Borisovich Grudinin, Ian Michael Godfrey
  • Publication number: 20140112358
    Abstract: An excitation unit for a fiber laser having an excitation fiber and forming a two-dimensional or three-dimensional structure in a resonator region of the fiber laser. In cross-section, the excitation fiber has an active fiber core, a pump cladding that surrounds the active core, a quartz glass casing that surrounds the pump cladding, and at least one cover. The resonator region is equipped with a base plate having a plurality of excitation housings, each housing delimiting a gas-tight excitation chamber. The excitation fiber runs through each excitation chamber and is held in holding units. The excitation chambers are formed in an elliptical manner. The excitation housings are provided with a translucent window, and a transversal pump light source is arranged in the region of each translucent window such that a pump light that leaves the pump light source impinges the longitudinal axis of the excitation fiber in a perpendicular manner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Publication date: April 24, 2014
    Inventor: Roland Berger
  • Patent number: 8705166
    Abstract: Apparatus and method for amplifying laser signals using segments of fibers of differing core diameters and/or differing cladding diameters to suppress amplified spontaneous emission and non-linear effects such as four-wave mixing (FWM), self-phase modulation, and stimulated Brillouin and/or Raman scattering (SBS/SRS). In some embodiments, different core sizes have different sideband spacings (spacing between the desired signal and wavelength-shifted lobes). Changing core sizes and providing phase mismatches prevent buildup of non-linear effects. Some embodiments further include a bandpass filter to remove signal other than the desired signal wavelength and/or a time gate to remove signal at times other than during the desired signal pulse. Some embodiments include photonic-crystal structures to define the core for the signal and/or the inner cladding for the pump.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventor: Matthias P. Savage-Leuchs
  • Publication number: 20140105231
    Abstract: A conical shaped-optical fiber is provided. The optical fiber includes remote end that is formed as a conical shape similar to a pointed end of a pencil and thus the laser beams are accumulated on the remote end for cutting tissue similar to a knife end. Further, in order to send laser beams circlewise in a tissue to a side, the remote end of the optical fiber is formed as a conical shape and the angle of the conical shape is adjusted for laser beams not to be accumulated on the remote end but to be scattered.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2012
    Publication date: April 17, 2014
    Inventor: Kyung Yong Lee
  • Patent number: 8699833
    Abstract: A microstructured optical fiber for generating broadband white light having a core doped with germanium and silica cladding surrounding the core, the cladding including a plurality of holes arranged in the form of a regular mesh, wherein the diameter F of a hole in the cladding, the pitch L between the respective centers of two neighboring holes in the cladding, and the refractive index difference Dn between the germanium-doped fiber core and the silica of the cladding are such that the fiber can generate white light on the fundamental mode over a wavelength band having a width of at least 1000 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Draka Comteq B.V.
    Inventors: Gilles Melin, Simon Lempereur, Anne Fleureau, Vincent Couderc, Philippe Laproux, Alexandre Kudlinski
  • Publication number: 20140092925
    Abstract: The invention can include an apparatus for producing optical pulses, comprising an oscillator for producing optical pulses at a first optical pulse repetition frequency, the optical pulses having a first wavelength and a first time duration; a pulse picker for receiving optical pulses having the first optical pulse repetition frequency, first wavelength and first time duration and operable to reduce the optical pulse repetition frequency to produce optical pulses having the first wavelength, first time duration and a reduced optical pulse repetition frequency that is less than the first optical pulse repetition frequency; an optical fiber receiving optical pulses at the reduced optical pulse repetition frequency and having the first wavelength and first time duration to produce, at the reduced optical pulse frequency, optical pulses that include one or more nonlinearly produced wavelengths different than the first wavelength.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2013
    Publication date: April 3, 2014
    Inventors: John Redvers Clowes, Anatoly Borisovich Grudinin, Ian Michael Godfrey, Kestutis Vysniauskas
  • Patent number: 8687659
    Abstract: A system (100) for generating a millimeter wave signals from heterodyning wavelengths from a multi-wavelength signal generated by a Brillouin-Erbium fiber laser (101). The Brillouin-Erbium fiber laser (101) includes a source laser (105) that transmits a seed signal. An optical directional coupler (110) has a first input that receives the seed signal from the source laser and a first output. An Erbium doped fiber amplifier (115) has an input connected to the first output of the optical directional coupler and an output. The Erbium doped fiber amplifier amplifies the seed signal. A four port circulator (120) has a first port that receives the seed signal from the Erbium doped fiber amplifier. A Brillouin gain medium (135) is connected to a second port and a third port of the circulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Telekom Malaysia Berhad
    Inventors: Asmahanim bte Ahmad, Mohamed Razman bin Yahya, Syamsuri bin Yaakob, Mohd Adzir Mahdi, Romli Mohamad, Abdullah bin Man, Muhammad Zamsuri bin Abdul Kadir, Yu Gang Shee
  • Publication number: 20140086267
    Abstract: A laser device includes a seed laser, a polarizer, a pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) pattern generator, and a phase modulator. The polarizer may be optically coupled to receive an output of the seed laser and may generate a polarization filtered output. The PRBS pattern generator may be configured to generate a PRBS pattern. The phase modulator may be configured to apply a PRBS modulation scheme to the polarization filtered output based on the PRBS pattern. The PRBS pattern may be generated to have a length above a first threshold for avoiding an occurrence of backward propagation being in phase with forward propagation in an active fiber receiving an output of the phase modulator when the pattern repeats and below a second threshold for phase mismatch in the active fiber.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2012
    Publication date: March 27, 2014
    Applicant: THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Michael L. Dennis, William E. Torruellas, David M. Brown
  • Patent number: 8681421
    Abstract: An IR laser source providing light in the IR spectrum, the laser source comprising a pump laser operating at a frequency equivalent to wavelength shorter than 2 ?m and at a predetermined power, and an optic fiber coupled to the pump laser. The optic fiber has at least a section of a hollow core photonic crystal fiber, the at least a section of hollow core photonic crystal fiber being designed to have at least a passband in the IR spectrum and being filled with a molecular gas for triggering at least one Stoke's shift in the light entering the at least a section of hollow core photonic crystal fiber for the particular power of the pump laser, the at least one Stoke's shift be selected to cause the light entering the at least a section of hollow core photonic crystal fiber to shift in frequency into the passband in the IR spectrum of the hollow core photonic crystal fiber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: HRL Laboratories, LLC
    Inventors: David M. Pepper, Hans Bruesselbach, Bryan Fong
  • Patent number: 8682126
    Abstract: A method for arranging a high power fiber laser system includes spiraling an active fiber in a housing with a diameter of spiral gradually decreasing towards the center of the housing. The method further includes coupling the opposite free ends of the spiraled active fiber to respective passive fibers providing optical communication between the active fiber and discrete components. Thereafter, the passive fibers with the discrete components are arranged next to inner spirals of the active fiber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: IPG Photonics Corporation
    Inventors: Igor Samartsev, Victor Ilyashenko, Davone Keovongmanysar
  • Patent number: 8675708
    Abstract: Provided is a laser oscillation apparatus capable of stabilizing resonance even when finesse of an optical resonator is increased and generating stronger laser light than that of a traditional apparatus by accumulating laser light in the optical resonator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Inter-University Research Institute Corporation High Energy Accelerator Research Organization
    Inventors: Yosuke Honda, Junji Urakawa
  • Patent number: 8675709
    Abstract: A hybrid CW MOPA includes an OPS-laser resonator delivering radiation in a plurality of longitudinal lasing-modes or wavelengths. The multiple longitudinal mode output is amplified in a fiber-amplifier. Amplified lasing-modes from the fiber-amplifier are frequency-converted by an optically nonlinear crystal in a ring-resonator having the same length as the laser resonator, such that the ring-resonator is resonant for all of the amplified lasing-modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Coherent, Inc.
    Inventors: Sergei Govorkov, Andrei Starodoumov, Arnaud Lepert
  • Publication number: 20140064305
    Abstract: A system is provided for combining laser light sources. The system includes: a stack of laser diode bar arrays, comprising two or more laser diode bar arrays, each laser diode bar array having multiple laser diodes; a multimode optical fiber; and a plurality of optical elements disposed between the stack of laser diode bar arrays and the multimode optical fiber, configured to direct light from the stack of laser diode bar arrays to the multimode optical fibers, the plurality of optical elements further including: a plurality of fast-axis collimating (FAC) lenses, wherein at least one FAC lens of the plurality of FAC lenses corresponds to each laser diode bar array. At least one FAC lens of the plurality of FAC lenses is misaligned with respect to the corresponding laser diode bar array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2013
    Publication date: March 6, 2014
    Applicant: OPTICAL ENGINES, INC.
    Inventors: Donald L. Sipes, JR., Daniel Scott Schulz
  • Publication number: 20140061470
    Abstract: A short optical pulse generator which includes an optical pulse generation portion that has a quantum well structure and generates an optical pulse, a frequency chirp portion that has a quantum well structure and chirps a frequency of the optical pulse, and a group velocity dispersion portion that includes a plurality of optical waveguides disposed in a mode coupling distance and which causes a group velocity difference corresponding to a wavelength in the optical pulse of which the frequency is chirped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2013
    Publication date: March 6, 2014
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hitoshi NAKAYAMA
  • Patent number: 8665514
    Abstract: A fiber laser apparatus includes an optical amplification fiber with a multi-core structure composed of a first waveguide that pumping light enters and that transmits the pumping light; a second waveguide composed of a core containing a laser medium and for generating laser, and a clad for transmitting pumping light; and a third waveguide containing the first waveguide and the second waveguide. The optical amplification fiber is wound while the curvature radius is being changed to provide a small-size, high-power fiber laser apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventor: Doukei Nagayasu
  • Patent number: 8665915
    Abstract: A laser apparatus uses a dysprosium doped chalcogenide glass fiber. The glass fiber has a laser pump operatively connected to it. The chalcogenide glass fiber is located in a laser cavity including one or more reflective elements such as a Bragg grating, a Bragg minor, a grating, and a non-doped fiber end face. The apparatus provides laser light output at a wavelength of about 4.3 ?m to about 5.0 ?m at a useful power level using laser light input at a wavelength of from about 1.7 ?m to about 1.8 ?m. Also disclosed is a method for providing laser light output at a wavelength of about 4.3 ?m to about 5.0 ?m using the apparatus of the invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Leslie Brandon Shaw, Jasbinder S. Sanghera, Shyam S. Bayya, Ishwar D. Aggarwal
  • Patent number: 8665916
    Abstract: The optical fiber of the present invention has an input double-clad fiber containing high-reflection FBG, an oscillation double-clad fiber, and an output double-clad fiber containing low-reflection FBG. The output double-clad fiber is formed of a core, a first clad, and a second clad. In the output double-clad fiber, a high refractive-index resin coat section recoated with high refractive-index resin whose refractive index is the same as that of the second clad or greater is disposed at a part where the second clad is partly removed between an output end and the low-reflection FBG. The refractive index of the high refractive-index resin coat section gradually increases along the direction in which light travels through the first clad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi Nishimura, Hideaki Itoh
  • Publication number: 20140050234
    Abstract: Laser master oscillator-power amplifier system for generating high pulse energy, high average power laser pulses in the ultraviolet 191.25-201.25 nm and 243-246.25 nm spectral ranges, and in the visible 450-537.5 nm spectral range with controllable pulse duration and pulse repetition rate employ a master oscillator seed laser operating in the infra-red spectral range, and a single series connected chain of hybrid fiber-bulk optical amplifiers coupled to a non-linear frequency conversion unit to convert the laser pulses to the ultraviolet and visible spectral ranges.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2013
    Publication date: February 20, 2014
    Applicant: Veralas, Inc.
    Inventor: Valeri V. Ter-Mikirtychev
  • Publication number: 20140048410
    Abstract: A device for the excitation of a gas medium (10) contained in a casing (12), the device being coupled to the casing (12) and disposed outside same and including an applicator that can generate lateral excitation inside the casing (12) over at least a portion thereof. The device is characterized in that the casing (12) is a hollow-core photonic dielectric structure (16), in which the core has a diameter smaller than 300 ?m, and in that the applicator is of the microwave type and can be used to generate a surface wave that can create and confine a micro-plasma from the gaseous medium contained in the casing (12).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 26, 2012
    Publication date: February 20, 2014
    Applicant: UNIVERSITE DE LIMOGES
    Inventors: Fetah Benabid, Jean-Marc Blondy, Benoit Debord, Frederic Gerome, Raphael Jamier, Philippe Leprince
  • Publication number: 20140050235
    Abstract: An optical system comprises an optical apparatus arranged to direct received light to different paths and to provide a first signal and a second signal, said first and second signals having an optical difference therebetween sufficient for distinguishing optical signals, an amplifier in optical communication with the optical apparatus for amplifying the first and second signals, and a discrimination device to receive amplified light and to provide output light responsive to the optical difference.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 24, 2011
    Publication date: February 20, 2014
    Applicant: Fianum, Ltd.
    Inventors: John Redvers Clowes, Christophe Codemard, Pascal Dupriez
  • Patent number: 8654800
    Abstract: A high power fiber laser is configured with a multimode active fiber and input and output single mode passive fibers butt-spliced to respective opposite ends of the active fiber. If the input passive and active fibers do not have substantially matched diameters, a SM radiation coupled into the active fiber may excite fundamental and high order modes which, while interfering with one another, create a non-uniform distribution of refractive index in each of forward and backward light propagation directions along the resonator of the laser. The variable longitudinal perturbation components of the refractive index in respective forward and backward directions along an optical path in the active fiber are distributed in accordance with respective cosine functions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: IPG Photonics Corporation
    Inventors: Roman Yagodkin, Nikolai Platanov, Mikhail Meleshkevich
  • Patent number: 8654799
    Abstract: A mode-locked fiber laser has a resonator including a gain-fiber, a mode-locking element, and a spectrally-selective dispersion compensating device. The resonator can be a standing-wave resonator or a traveling-wave resonator. The dispersion compensating device includes only one diffraction grating combined with a lens and a minor to provide a spatial spectral spread. The numerical aperture of the gain-fiber selects which portion of the spectral spread can oscillate in the resonator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Coherent, Inc.
    Inventors: Dmitri Simanovski, Andrei Starodoumov
  • Patent number: 8654801
    Abstract: In aspects of the invention, wavelength conversion element has a harmonic generation portion and a parametric oscillation portion. The harmonic generation portion generates a harmonic of laser light output from a laser light source. The parametric oscillation portion generates signal light and idler light from the harmonic generated by the harmonic generation portion. In some aspects of the invention, electrodes and a first voltage control portion control the intensity of the harmonic generated by the harmonic generation portion. A first FBG (Fiber Bragg Grating) and a second FBG cause resonance of signal light output from the parametric oscillation portion. A piezo tube and a second voltage control portion change the resonance frequency of the first FBG and the second FBG.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Masanori Oto
  • Publication number: 20140044139
    Abstract: Various embodiments include large cores fibers that can propagate few modes or a single mode while introducing loss to higher order modes. Some of these fibers are holey fibers that comprising cladding features such as air-holes. Additional embodiments described herein include holey rods. The rods and fibers may be used in many optical systems including optical amplification systems, lasers, short pulse generators, Q-switched lasers, etc. and may be used for example for micromachining.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2013
    Publication date: February 13, 2014
    Applicant: IMRA America, Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Dong, William Wong, Martin E. Fermann
  • Patent number: 8649403
    Abstract: When an output instruction is input to a control unit, the control unit controls a seed laser light source and a pumping light source to be either in a pre-pumped state or in an output state. In the pre-pumped state, the pumping light source outputs, for a predetermined period, pumping light with an intensity determined based on the duration of the period of time from when the output state prior to the input of the output instruction to the control unit comes to an end till when the output instruction is input to the control unit. In the output state, to cause the output unit to output laser light, the seed laser light source outputs laser light, and the pumping light source outputs pumping light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: Fujikura Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Oba, Michihiro Nakai
  • Publication number: 20140036938
    Abstract: A fiber laser includes a light emitting unit that amplifies pulsed signal light in a rare-earth doped fiber and emits output light, and a filter arranged in an optical path of the output light emitted from the light emitting unit. The signal light is light having a longer wavelength than a wavelength with which a gain is maximized in a rare-earth doped fiber within a gain wavelength band of the rare-earth doped fiber. The filter does not allow transmission of light in at least a part of the wavelength band that includes the wavelength with which the gain is maximized in the rare-earth doped fiber, and allows transmission of light having the same wavelength as the signal light and light in a wavelength band on a longer wavelength side than the wavelength of the signal light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2013
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: FUJIKURA LTD.
    Inventor: Michihiro Nakai
  • Patent number: 8644665
    Abstract: To project a rectangular laser spot having a predetermined size and a high laser power density onto the surface of an object, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprises a control unit for controlling power of a laser light source, an optical waveguide unit (1) including a core section (10) transmitting laser light and a clad section (11) covering the core section (10), and a lens (3) for forming the laser light output through the optical waveguide unit (1) into a laser spot having a predetermined shape, an output end surface (15) of the core section (10) has a rectangular shape with one side length of 1 ?m to 20 ?m and the other side length of 1 mm to 60 mm, and the laser source is set to make the power density of the laser spot output from the core section (10) to be 0.1 mW/?m2 or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi Information & Telecommunication Engineering, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Ogino, Katsumi Kimura, Yasuhiro Iida, Kazuhiro Soga
  • Patent number: 8643940
    Abstract: A system for generating polychromatic light, which includes: an optical pumping device suitable for continuously or quasi-continuously emitting a monochromatic or quasi-monochromatic radiation according to a pumping wavelength; a device for guiding light arranged such as to emit polychromatic radiation continuously or quasi continuously, at the output thereof, and a device for coupling between the pumping and coupling device. In the system, the guiding device, includes a microstructured optical fiber in which the core is at least partially doped with a material having a high intrinsic non-linear response, and the geometry of the optical fiber and the doping rate of the core thereof are predetermined such as to adapt the zero dispersion length of the optical fiber to the pumping wavelength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique—CNRS
    Inventors: Alexandre Kudlinski, Arnaud Mussot, Geraud Pierre Bouwmans, Gilles Rene Melin
  • Patent number: 8639080
    Abstract: An optical fiber comprising a core region embedded within a cladding. The core region of the optical fiber further comprises multiple sections, each doped with rare earth ions. The sections of the core region may be doped with different rare-earth ions or with different doping concentrations. The sections of the core region may also be made from different types of glass hosts. The optical fiber may further include multiple core regions embedded within the cladding, each core region having multiple sections doped with rare earth ions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: AdValue Photonics, Inc.
    Inventor: Shibin Jiang
  • Patent number: 8636726
    Abstract: An apparatus and process using a high-power, short-pulsed thulium laser to output infrared laser pulses delivered through an optical fiber, for cutting and ablating biological tissue. In some embodiments, the pulse length is shortened sufficiently to keep inside the stress-confined ablation region of operation. In some embodiments, the pulse is shortened to near the stress-confined ablation region of operation, while being slightly in the thermal-constrained region of operation. In some embodiments, the laser is coupled to a small low-OH optical fiber (˜100 ?m diameter). In some embodiments, the device has a pulse duration of about 100 ns for efficient ablation; however in some embodiments, this parameter is adjustable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: Jonathan D. Wells, Mark P. Bendett, Matthias P. Savage-Leuchs, James M. Owen
  • Publication number: 20140023098
    Abstract: A fiber gain medium provided by a rare-earth doped fiber (10) is contained in a first resonant cavity by end reflectors (12, 18). The reflector (12) is wavelength selective to limit the frequency band of the first resonant cavity. The first resonant cavity also contains a second resonant enhancement cavity (16) with multiple transmission bands lying within the first resonant cavity's frequency band. Multiple standing wave modes of the first resonant cavity lie within both the frequency band of the first resonant cavity and the transmission bands of the second resonant cavity, and it is these standing wave modes that support laser action when the rare-earth doped fiber is suitably pumped by pump lasers (40).
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2011
    Publication date: January 23, 2014
    Inventors: William Clarkson, Rafal Cieslak
  • Publication number: 20140022533
    Abstract: A frequency comb laser providing large comb spacing is disclosed. At least one embodiment includes a mode locked waveguide laser system. The mode locked waveguide laser includes a laser cavity having a waveguide, and a dispersion control unit (DCU) in the cavity. The DCU imparts an angular dispersion, group-velocity dispersion (GVD) and a spatial chirp to a beam propagating in the cavity. The DCU is capable of producing net GVD in a range from a positive value to a negative value. In some embodiments a tunable fiber frequency comb system configured as an optical frequency synthesizer is provided. In at least one embodiment a low phase noise micro-wave source may be implemented with a fiber comb laser having a comb spacing greater than about 1 GHz. The laser system is suitable for mass-producible fiber comb sources with large comb spacing and low noise. Applications include high-resolution spectroscopy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Publication date: January 23, 2014
    Applicant: IMRA AMERICA, Inc.
    Inventors: Martin FERMANN, Ingmar HARTL
  • Publication number: 20140016655
    Abstract: A laser system for semiconductor inspection includes a fiber-based fundamental light source for generating fundamental light that is then converted/mixed by a frequency conversion module to generate UV-DUV laser light. The fundamental light source includes a nonlinear chirp element (e.g., a Bragg grating or an electro-optic modulator) that adds a nonlinear chirp to the seed light laser system prior to amplification by the fiber amplifier(s) (e.g., doped fiber or Raman amplifiers). The nonlinear chirp includes an x2 or higher nonlinearity and is configured to compensate for the Self Phase Modulation (SPM) characteristics of the fiber-based amplifiers such that fundamental light is generated that has a spectral E95 bandwidth within five times that of the seed light. When multiple series-connected amplifiers are used, either a single nonlinear chirp element is provided before the amplifier string, or chirp elements are included before each amplifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 10, 2013
    Publication date: January 16, 2014
    Inventor: J. Joseph Armstrong
  • Publication number: 20140016656
    Abstract: A light delivery component includes a delivery fiber configured to include a core and a clad; and a heat radiating member, wherein the delivery fiber is configured to include a first light emitting unit connected to a first heat radiating member which is a portion of the heat radiating member and a second light emitting unit connected to a second heat radiating member which is another portion of the heat radiating member, and at least the second light emitting unit is bent, and wherein the first light emitting unit is installed closer to a light incidence end of the delivery fiber than the second light emitting unit, and a bending radius of the first light emitting unit is set to be larger than that of the second light emitting unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2013
    Publication date: January 16, 2014
    Applicant: FUJIKURA LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Taya
  • Patent number: 8630522
    Abstract: The invention includes optical signal conduits having rare earth elements incorporated therein. The optical signal conduits can, for example, contain rare earth elements incorporated within a dielectric material matrix. For instance, erbium or cerium can be within silicon nanocrystals dispersed throughout dielectric material of optical signal conduits. The dielectric material can define a path for the optical signal, and can be wrapped in a sheath which aids in keeping the optical signal along the path. The sheath can include any suitable barrier material, and can, for example, contain one or more metallic materials. The invention also includes methods of forming optical signal conduits, with some of such methods being methods in which the optical signal conduits are formed to be part of semiconductor constructions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Chandra Mouli
  • Patent number: 8630323
    Abstract: Apparatus and method for control of lasers (which use an array of optical gain fibers) in order to improve spectrally beam-combined (SBC) laser beam quality along the plane of the SBC fiber array via spectral-to-spatial mapping of a portion of the spectrally beam-combined laser beams, detection of optical power in each of the spatially dispersed beams and feedback control of the lasers for wavelength-drift correction. The apparatus includes a diffractive element; a source of a plurality of substantially monochromatic light beams directed from different angles to a single location on the diffractive element, wherein the diffractive element spectrally combines the plurality of light beams into a single beam. A controller adjusts characteristics of the light beams if one of the light beams has become misadjusted. In some embodiments, the controller adjusts the wavelength tuning of the respective fiber laser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: Eric C. Honea, Donald R. Jander, Pratheepan Madasamy, Tolga Yilmaz
  • Patent number: 8630321
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for performing temporal scanning using ultra-short pulse width lasers in which only minimal (micro-scale) mechanical movement is required, and related methods for obtaining high-accuracy timing calibration, on the order of femtoseconds, are disclosed. A dual laser system is disclosed in which the cavity of one or more of the lasers is dithered using a piezoelectric element. A Fabry-Perot etalon generates a sequence of timing pulses used in conjunction with a laser beam produced by the laser having the dithered laser cavity. A correlator correlates a laser pulse from one of the lasers with the sequence of timing pulses to produce a calibrated time scale. The invention is applicable to applications requiring rapid scanning and time calibration, including metrology, characterization of charge dynamics in semiconductors, electro-optic testing of ultrafast electronic and optoelectronic devices, optical time domain reflectometry, and electro-optic sampling oscilloscopes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Imra America, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregg D. Sucha, Martin E. Fermann, Donald J. Harter
  • Patent number: 8630320
    Abstract: An apparatus for producing coherent pulsed light with a fiber-based master oscillator/fiber amplifier architecture includes a fiber-coupled mode-locked laser source. The fiber-coupled mode-locked laser source is configured to provide pulses having a pulse duration of less than 1 ns. The apparatus also includes a fiber-coupled amplitude modulator optically coupled to the fiber-coupled mode-locked laser source. The fiber-coupled amplitude modulator is capable of gate durations greater than 1 ns. The apparatus further includes a saturated fiber power amplifier optically coupled to the fiber-coupled amplitude modulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Deep Photonics Corporation
    Inventors: Michael J. Munroe, David A. Dutton, Joseph G. LaChapelle
  • Publication number: 20140010246
    Abstract: The invention relates to a double-sheath fiber having a core region (1) and a sheath region, the sheath region having an inner region (2) and an outer region (3), which comprises a refractive index that is lower with respect to that of the inner region (2) and the core region (1), wherein the outer region (3) surrounds the inner region (2). The invention proposes an internal structure (4) of the inner region (2) which effects a spatial overlap of modes of higher order with the core region (1), which is lower than the spatial overlap of a fundamental mode with the core region (1).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2011
    Publication date: January 9, 2014
    Applicants: Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: César Jauregui Misas, Fabian Stutzki, Jens Limpert, Florian Jansen, Andreas Tuennermann
  • Patent number: 8619355
    Abstract: A device for generating or receiving electromagnetic radiation in a frequency range from 10 GHz to 100 THz is provided. The device includes a housing and a wave guide fiber leading into the housing. The wave guide fiber is adapted for guiding pulsed laser light with a first central wavelength. Within the housing, a terahertz converter is provided for generating or receiving the electromagnetic radiation in the terahertz range. The device also includes a frequency converter for converting the light exiting from the wave guide fiber to a second central wavelength being arranged between the end of the wave guide fiber and the terahertz converter in such a way that the terahertz converter is impinged by the frequency converted light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Menlo Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Ronald Holzwarth, Rafal Wilk
  • Publication number: 20130336343
    Abstract: An optical fiber has: a core made of silica glass in which a rare earth element and aluminum have been added; an inner cladding layer that is formed around the core, is made of silica glass in which at least any one of an alkali metal and an alkali earth metal has been added, and has a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the core; and an outer cladding layer that is formed around the inner cladding layer and has a refractive index lower than the refractive index of the inner cladding layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2013
    Publication date: December 19, 2013
    Applicant: Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryo MIYABE, Keiichi Aiso
  • Patent number: 8611003
    Abstract: Provided is a double clad fiber device. The double clad fiber device includes a double clad fiber, a pump combiner, at least one first laser diode, and at least one second laser diode. The double clad fiber includes a core and a clad. The pump combiner provides pump light to the core and the clad through one end of the double clad fiber, respectively. The at least one first laser diode provides first pump light to the clad through the pump combiner. The at least one second laser diode provides second pump light to the core through the pump combiner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
    Inventors: Joon Tae Ahn, Hong-Seok Seo, Bong Je Park, Dae Kon Oh
  • Patent number: 8611002
    Abstract: The present invention relates generally to devices for the generation and amplification of electromagnetic energy. The present invention relates more particularly to optical fiber devices, such as lasers and amplifiers, useful for generating and amplifying optical energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Inventor: Gavin P. Frith
  • Publication number: 20130329756
    Abstract: A laser apparatus includes an optical fiber component and a pump light source coupled to the optical fiber component. The optical fiber component includes a first fiber segment, a second fiber segment and a connecting segment that connects the first and second fiber segments. The first fiber segment includes a fiber core having a first diameter, and the second fiber segment includes a fiber core having a second diameter. The first diameter may be greater than the second diameter, and the connecting segment may have a periodically varying refractive index.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2013
    Publication date: December 12, 2013
    Applicant: INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
    Inventors: SHIH TING LIN, YAO WUN JHANG, CHIEN MING HUANG, HSIN CHIA SU, CHIH LIN WANG, HONG XI TSAU
  • Patent number: 8605762
    Abstract: Laser apparatus (1) comprising a reference source (2), a reference fiber (3), and at least one laser diode (4), wherein the reference fiber (3) comprises a core (5) having a refractive index n1 and a first cladding (6) having a refractive index n2, the first cladding (6) is surrounded by a second cladding (7) having a refractive index n3, the refractive index n1 is greater than the refractive index n2, the refractive index n2 is greater than the refractive index n3, the laser diode (4) emits laser radiation (8) that is guided through the first cladding (6) of the reference fiber (3), the reference source (2) emits reference radiation (9) that has a predetermined wavelength ?R (10), the reference radiation (9) is guided through the core (5) of the reference fiber (3) to the laser diode (4), and the reference radiation (9) that is guided through the core (5) of the reference fiber (3) to the laser diode (4) has a power (11) at the predetermined wavelength ?R (10), which power is greater than an injection lockin
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: SPL Lasers UK Limited
    Inventors: Michael Kevan Durkin, Malcolm Paul Varnham, Mikhail Nickolaos Zervas
  • Patent number: 8605768
    Abstract: The present invention provides a laser apparatus capable of improving a scan speed and achieving a scan rate equal to or more than 1 MHz, and an optical tomographic imaging apparatus using the laser apparatus as a light source. The laser apparatus includes a ring resonator, the ring resonator having a structure in which a first modulator, a normal dispersion region, a second modulator and an anomalous dispersion region are arranged in this order, and in this arrangement, a gain medium is included, and being configured so that modulation with respect to the second modulator can be caused to be phase modulation by periodically superimposing phase modulation on modulation with respect to the first modulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kentaro Furusawa, Natsuhiko Mizutani, Kazuhide Miyata
  • Publication number: 20130322470
    Abstract: In the method of generating high power light with high efficiency and low thermal loading, the improvement comprising the steps of resonantly pumping a first thulium-doped fiber laser with a second thulium-doped fiber last, said second thulium-doped fiber laser having a shorter wavelength than said first thulium-doped fiber laser.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Applicant: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.
    Inventor: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc