High-speed pulse-shape generator, pulse multiplexer

Pulse or digital communications – Cable systems and components

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Reexamination Certificate

active

06421390

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical pulse shaping, and more specifically, it relates to the combination of arbitrary amplitude high-speed pulses for precision pulse shaping to control the temporal profile of laser pulses.
2. Description of Related Art
Very short, high voltage electrical pulses are needed to control the temporal profile of laser pulses using Pockels cells in applications such as inertial confinement fusion. Pulse shaping is required in high energy pulsed lasers to compensate for gain saturation which distorts the output laser pulse . In addition, pulse shaping is desirable for improved target performance in fusion experiments. In the Nova Laser System at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the master oscillator pulse is modulated in time using a dual Pockels cell system which requires a shaped 4 kV pulse. While this works very well, the main disadvantage is that the shaping technique relies upon the reflection from non-uniform impedance transmission lines, which is not conducive to programmable control. Pulse shaping in this way began in the early 1980s using approximate models and experimental methods.
In the late 1980s, techniques were developed for systematic design of non-uniform transmission lines to obtain predetermined pulse shapes, but these methods were not computer controllable. A major change in master oscillator technology occurred with the Beamlet Laser System at LLNL, which used integrated optoelectronic modulators (EO modulators) to control the temporal pulse shape of the laser beam. These devices only require 8 volts to operate, opening up other possibilities for pulse shaping.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to combine arbitrary amplitude high-speed pulses to achieve precision pulse shaping for control of the temporal profile of laser pulses.
A programmable pulse shape generator combines arbitrary high-speed electrical pulses for precision laser pulse shaping. The circuitry combines arbitrary height pulses which are generated by replicating scaled versions of a trigger pulse and summing them, delayed in time, on a pulse line. The combined electrical pulses are connected to an electro-optic modulator which modulates the light. The circuit can also be adapted to combine multiple channels of high speed data, multiplexing them into a single train of electrical pulses which generates the optical pulses for very high speed optical communication. The invention has application in laser pulse shaping for inertial confinement fusion, in optical data links for computers, telecommunications, and in laser pulse shaping for atomic excitation studies. The invention can be used to effect a 10× increase in all fiber communication lines. It allows a greatly increased data transfer rate between high-performance computers. The invention is inexpensive enough to bring high-speed video and data services to homes through the equivalent of a super modem.
This pulse shaping module will be used to shape the electrical pulses which shape the laser pulse for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at LLNL. It is currently being used there to shape pulses for the Beamlet laser. The invention can modulate light at 9 giga-samples per second (9 GS/s) without being optimized for higher speeds. This circuit topology can operate at speeds of 20 GS/s and beyond, to vastly increase the capability of short-haul fiber optic communication systems. In addition, it can be used in long-haul transmission systems to pre-shape the data pulse stream to compensate for path distortions (much like the path distortions experiences in Nova or NIF).


REFERENCES:
patent: 3743966 (1973-07-01), Grace et al.
patent: 4388725 (1983-06-01), Saito et al.
patent: 4450419 (1984-05-01), Schwarzmann
patent: 4667161 (1987-05-01), Wilcox
patent: 4928316 (1990-05-01), Heritage et al.
patent: 5023574 (1991-06-01), Anklam et al.
patent: 5038051 (1991-08-01), Firman et al.
patent: 5166818 (1992-11-01), Chase et al.
patent: 5263039 (1993-11-01), Skupsky et al.
patent: 5384798 (1995-01-01), Zucker et al.
patent: 5394415 (1995-02-01), Zucker et al.
patent: 5408497 (1995-04-01), Baumann et al.
patent: 5448417 (1995-09-01), Adams
patent: 5483100 (1996-01-01), Koide et al.
patent: 5485488 (1996-01-01), Van Brunt et al.
patent: 5502392 (1996-03-01), Arjavalingam et al.
patent: 5654981 (1997-08-01), Mahant-Shetti et al.
Statz et al., GaAs FET Device and Circuit Simulation in SPICE, IEEE Transactions On Electron Devices, vol. Ed-34, No. 2, Feb. 1987.

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

High-speed pulse-shape generator, pulse multiplexer does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with High-speed pulse-shape generator, pulse multiplexer, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and High-speed pulse-shape generator, pulse multiplexer will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2908737

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.