Broadband laser source

Details Broadband laser source Broadband laser source

1992-06-08

1993-10-19

Gonzalez, Frank

Coherent light generators

Particular beam control device

Modulation

356345, 356350, 372 20, 372 28, 372 32, H01S 310

Patent

active

052552748

ABSTRACT:
A laser source comprises an optical fiber doped with a homogeneously broadened lasing medium, preferably with Erbium, pumped by a laser pump source and an intracavity acousto-optic modulator. When the acousto-optic modulator is driven by a variable frequency source, the Erbium fluorescence line emitted by the Erbium-doped optical fiber can be electronically tuned. In another embodiment, an electronic sweep waveform is used to frequency modulate the acoustic signal produced by the acousto-optic modulator. Without the low-rate frequency modulation, Erbium in a silica optical fiber is a mostly homogeneously broadened gain medium with a narrow laser linewidth. When measured on a long time scale, low-rate frequency modulation provides a broader spectral width, on the order of 19 nm, which makes such a source an ideal source for certain optical applications such as fiber optic gyroscopes.

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