INTRACAVITY CONVERSION UTILIZING NARROW BAND REFLECTIVE SOA

摘要

An external cavity laser source (10) is provided comprising an external laser cavity (10), a tunable distributed Bragg reflector (20, DBR), a DBR tuning element (22), an output reflector (30), a semiconductor optical amplifier (40, SOA), a frequency-selective optical coupler/reflector (50), and a wavelength conversion device (60). The tunable DBR, the DBR tuning element, the SOA, and the output reflector are configured to generate a fundamental laser signal characterized by a fundamental bandwidth that is narrower than the QPM bandwidth of the wavelength conversion device and can be tuned to a fundamental center wavelength within the QPM bandwidth. The frequency-selective optical coupler/reflector (50) is configured for substantially non-reflective two-way transmission of optical signals at the fundamental center wavelength and is further configured for substantially complete reflection of wavelength-converted optical signals generated by the wavelength conversion device. The output reflector (30) is configured for substantially non-reflective transmission of wavelength-converted optical signals generated by the wavelength conversion device and for substantially complete reflection of optical signals at the fundamental center wavelength.