BROADBAND OR MID-INFRARED FIBER LIGHT SOURCES

摘要

An optical system includes a tunable semiconductor light emitter that generates an input beam having a wavelength shorter than about 2.5 microns, an optical isolator coupled to the emitter and configured to block reflected light into the emitter, an optical amplifier receiving the input beam and outputting an intermediate beam, and optical fibers receiving the intermediate beam and forming an output beam. A subsystem includes lenses or mirrors that deliver the output beam to a sample. The subsystem may include an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) apparatus having a sample arm and a reference arm, the output beam having a temporal duration greater than approximately 30 picoseconds, a repetition rate between continuous wave and Megahertz or higher, and a time averaged intensity less than approximately 50 MW/cm2. The system may also include a light detection system collecting any of the output beam that reflects or transmits from the sample.

主权项

1. An optical system comprising:
one or more tunable semiconductor light emitters configured to generate an input beam, wherein at least a portion of the input beam comprises a wavelength shorter than about 2.5 microns; one or more optical isolators coupled to the one or more tunable semiconductor light emitters and configured to substantially prevent a reflected light into the one or more tunable semiconductor light emitters; one or more optical amplifiers configured to receive at least a part of the portion of the input beam and to output an intermediate beam from one of the one or more optical amplifiers; one or more optical fibers configured to receive at least a portion of the intermediate beam and to form an output beam with an output beam wavelength; a subsystem comprising one or more lenses or mirrors configured to receive a received portion of the output beam, the one of more lenses or mirrors configured to deliver a delivered portion of the output beam to a sample, wherein the subsystem comprises an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) apparatus comprising a sample arm and a reference arm, wherein the delivered portion of the output beam has a temporal duration greater than approximately 30 picoseconds, wherein the delivered portion of the output beam has a repetition rate between continuous wave and Megahertz or higher, and wherein a time averaged intensity of the delivered portion of the output beam is less than approximately 50 MW/cm2; and a light detection system capable of collecting at least a fraction of the delivered portion of the output beam that reflects or transmits from the sample.