Frequency comb source with large comb spacing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9759983-B2
Application number	US-201514967709-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2015
Priority date	Mar 10, 2006
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A frequency comb laser providing large comb spacing is disclosed. At least one embodiment includes a mode locked waveguide laser system. The mode locked waveguide laser includes a laser cavity having a waveguide, and a dispersion control unit (DCU) in the cavity. The DCU imparts an angular dispersion, group-velocity dispersion (GVD) and a spatial chirp to a beam propagating in the cavity. The DCU is capable of producing net GVD in a range from a positive value to a negative value. In some embodiments a tunable fiber frequency comb system configured as an optical frequency synthesizer is provided. In at least one embodiment a low phase noise micro-wave source may be implemented with a fiber comb laser having a comb spacing greater than about 1 GHz. The laser system is suitable for mass-producible fiber comb sources with large comb spacing and low noise. Applications include high-resolution spectroscopy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multi-GHz frequency comb based system, comprising:
a mode locked waveguide laser configured such that individual comb modes output therefrom are separated by more than 1 GHz in frequency space;
an amplitude modulator configured to modulate the amplitude of an output of said mode locked waveguide laser;
a fiber amplifier disposed downstream from said amplitude modulator configured to amplify a modulated output produced with said amplitude modulator; and
a highly nonlinear fiber optically coupled to said fiber amplifier and configured for frequency broadening of a signal generated by said multi-GHz comb based system.

2. The multi-GHz comb based system according to claim 1 , further comprising an f-2f interferometer.

3. The multi-GHz comb based system according to claim 1 operably arranged for control of a carrier envelope offset frequency of said multi-GHz comb based system.

4. The multi-GHz comb based system according to claim 1 , wherein said amplitude modulator comprises an electro-optic modulator.

5. The multi-GHz comb based system according to claim 1 , comprising one or more nonlinear frequency broadening stages operably arranged for supercontinuum generation.

6. The multi-GHz comb based system according to claim 1 , comprising one or more nonlinear frequency broadening stages operably arranged for difference frequency generation.

7. The multi-GHz comb based system according to claim 1 , operably arranged to generate a microwave beat signal between a precision optical reference frequency and a signal from the mode locked waveguide laser for low phase noise micro-wave generation.

8. The multi-GHz comb based system according to claim 1 , wherein said multi-GHz comb system comprises solid-state, semiconductor based or micro-ring resonators.

9. The multi-GHz comb based system according to claim 1 , comprising an f-2f interferometer operably arranged for measuring a carrier envelope offset frequency of said multi-GHz comb based system.

Assignees

• Imra America Inc

Inventors

• Fermann Martin
• Hartl Ingmar

Classifications

• H01S3/08054

  Passive cavity elements acting on the polarization, e.g. a polarizer for branching or walk-off compensation (quarter-wave plates in a Q-switch laser H01S3/1124, H01S3/115) · CPC title

• H01S3/0675

  Resonators including a grating structure, e.g. distributed Bragg reflectors [DBR] or distributed feedback [DFB] fibre lasers · CPC title

• H01S3/105

  by controlling the mutual position or the reflecting properties of the reflectors of the cavity {, e.g. by controlling the cavity length}({H01S3/10076}, H01S3/13 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01S3/1112

  Passive mode locking · CPC title

• H01S3/1106

  Mode locking · CPC title