摘要:
A chirped pulse amplifier (CPA) system having a mode-locked laser and a high-speed pulse selector, wherein the pulse selector modulates output pulses based upon an applied modulation voltage. A pulse selector may be an integrated electro-optic modulator, for example a LiNbO3 modulator, or an electro-absorption modulator. Difficulties related to free-space alignment and operational stability of some prior designs are reduced or eliminated. Fiber coupling generally simplifies beam delivery and alignment. Some embodiments include an erbium fiber (or erbium-ytterbium) based CPA system operating at a wavelength of approximately 1550 nanometers. Similar performance can be obtained at other wavelengths, for example a 1.06 .micrometer Yb-doped fiber system. Moreover, high amplification and peak intensity at the output may be achieved while avoiding non-linear effects in the pulse selector, thereby providing for high intensity picosecond or femtosecond operation.
摘要:
A system comprising: a) a light source, wherein said source comprises a quasi-cw laser diode (31); b) a lithium niobate modulator (32) arranged to receive output of said light source and outputting pulses which are less than or equal to approximately 10 ns at a repetition rate in a range of from 1 kHz to less than 10 MHz, and said modulator (32) is disposed at an output of said cw laser diode (31); c) an amplifier (33) arranged to amplify pulses output by said modulator (32); and d) a fiber (34) with positive, i.e. normal, group-velocity dispersion (GVD) and self phase modulation receiving an output of said amplifier (33). The quasi cw laser diode (31) is gated so that it does not emit for significantly longer times than the pulse duration. The output of the positive GVD fiber may be compressed to produce fs pulses with variable repetition rate.