Directly driven source of multi-gigahertz, sub-picosecond optical pulses

摘要

A robust, compact optical pulse train source is described, with the capability of generating sub-picosecond micro-pulse sequences, which can be periodic as well as non-periodic, and at repetition rates tunable over decades of baseline frequencies, from MHz to multi-GHz regimes. The micro-pulses can be precisely controlled and formatted to be in the range of many ps in duration to as short as several fs in duration. The system output can be comprised of a continuous wave train of optical micro-pulses or can be programmed to provide gated bursts of macro-pulses, with each macro-pulse consisting of a specific number of micro-pulses or a single pulse picked from the higher frequency train at a repetition rate lower than the baseline frequency. These pulses could then be amplified in energy anywhere from the nJ to MJ range.

主权项

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a continuous wave (CW) laser for providing a CW laser beam; at least one electro-optic modulator for modulating said CW beam to produce a high repetition rate seed beam; an optical amplifier capable of amplifying said seed beam to produce an amplified seed beam; a spectral broadener for broadening the optical spectrum of said amplified seed beam to produce a spectrally broadened beam; and a pre-compressor for temporally compressing said spectrally broadened beam to produce a train of bandwidth-limited short-duration output pulses.