Abstract:
The proposed apparatus and method removes the frequency modulation from an incident light beam having an arbitrary combination of amplitude and frequency modulation, and produces a purely amplitude modulated beam with an envelope simply related to the envelope of the incident beam. The apparatus comprises a third order nonlinear system for producing an output signal with amplitude proportional to the amplitude product of the square of the incident beam and a second purely sinusoidal local oscillator beam. This output beam contains the amplitude modulation information of the incident beam but does not contain any of the frequency modulation. The third order nonlinear system may include simply a single crystal such as strontium titanate or alternatively a more complex system of phase-matched difference and sum frequency generators.
Abstract:
The invention includes an elongated Raman active medium having total internal reflection means along its longitudinal dimension. Optical pumping is by pulses of duration of the order of several picoseconds or less made incident upon one end of the medium and direction along the longitudinal axis thereof. The Raman emission inherently traverses a zigzag path within the medium at an angle such that the group velocity of the Raman and pump pulses is matched, i.e., differences in group velocity of the pump and Raman radiation due to the dispersion of the medium are compensated for.