Sinusoidal phase modulation of mode-locked lasers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10615564-B2
Application number	US-201815986518-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2018
Priority date	May 23, 2017
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

A mode-locked laser comprising circuitry configured to drive an electro-optic modulator (EOM) in the mode-locked laser with a drive waveform, the drive waveform being a phase-coherent sinusoidal waveform at a frequency equal to a repetition rate of the mode-locked laser, a phase-coherent pulsed waveform at a frequency equal to the repetition rate of the mode-locked laser, or a phase-coherent sinusoidal waveform at a frequency equal to half of the repetition rate of the mode-locked laser.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mode-locked laser having a pulse duration <10 −12 s, comprising circuitry configured to drive an electro-optic modulator (EOM) in the mode-locked laser with a drive waveform, the drive waveform being a phase-coherent sinusoidal waveform at a frequency equal to a repetition rate of the mode-locked laser;
wherein an amplitude of the laser output varies as a sinusoidal function of a phase of the drive waveform relative to the mode-locked laser.

2. The mode-locked laser of claim 1 , wherein the sinusoidal waveform is phase modulated over a 90 degree range having amplitude range of V peak.

3. The mode-locked laser of claim 1 , wherein the sinusoidal waveform is phase modulated over a 180 degree range having an amplitude range of V peak-to-peak.

4. The mode-locked laser of claim 2 , wherein a DC bias is applied to the sinusoidal waveform.

5. The mode-locked laser of claim 3 , wherein a DC bias is applied to the sinusoidal waveform.

6. The mode-locked laser of claim 1 , wherein the EOM is configured to generate an amplitude modulated output.

7. The mode-locked laser of claim 6 , wherein a DC bias is applied to the sinusoidal waveform.

8. The mode-locked laser of claim 1 , wherein the EOM comprises a Pockels cell.

9. The mode-locked laser of claim 1 , wherein a DC bias is applied such that the waveform is centered with symmetrical positive and negative voltages having substantially equal EOM optical phase shift.

10. A mode-locked laser having a pulse duration <10 −12 s, comprising circuitry configured to drive an electro-optic modulator (EOM) in the mode-locked laser with a drive waveform, the drive waveform being a phase-coherent sinusoidal waveform at a frequency equal to half of a repetition rate of the mode-locked laser;
wherein an amplitude of the laser output varies as a sinusoidal function of a phase of the drive waveform relative to the mode-locked laser.

11. The mode-locked laser of claim 10 , the EOM is configured to generate a phase modulated output.

12. The mode-locked laser of claim 10 , the EOM is configured to generate an amplitude modulated output.

13. The mode-locked laser of claim 10 , wherein the EOM comprises a Pockels cell.

Assignees

• Thorlabs Inc

Inventors

• Brooker Jeffrey S
• Radtke William
• Ma Hongzhou
• Lieser Eric

Classifications

• H01S3/107 Primary

  using electro-optic devices, e.g. exhibiting Pockels or Kerr effect {(H01S3/1061, H01S3/1063, H01S3/1065 take precedence)} · CPC title

• H01S3/1109

  Active mode locking · CPC title

• H03K4/92

  having a waveform comprising a portion of a sinusoid (generating sinusoidal oscillations H03B) · CPC title

• H01S3/10053

  Phase control · CPC title

• G02F1/03

  based on ceramics or electro-optical crystals, e.g. exhibiting Pockels effect or Kerr effect (G02F1/061 takes precedence) · CPC title