Chirped pulse laser sources and applications

    Authors

    P. J. Delfyett; D. Mandridis; M. U. Piracha; D. Nguyen; K. Kim;S. Lee

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Prog. Quantum Electron.

    Keywords

    Frequency swept laser; Frequency chirp; Mode-locked laser; Laser radar; Pulse shaping; Semiconductor laser; FREQUENCY-DOMAIN REFLECTOMETRY; FREE SPECTRAL RANGE; SELF-SIMILAR; PROPAGATION; FABRY-PEROT ETALON; SEMICONDUCTOR-OPTICAL-AMPLIFIERS; DISPERSION-DECREASING FIBER; OSCILLATOR POWER-AMPLIFIER; SHIFTED; FEEDBACK LASER; TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER; MODE-LOCKED LASER; Engineering, Electrical & Electronic

    Abstract

    This paper presents recent results in the development of novel ultrafast technologies based on the generation and application of extremely chirped optical pulses. Linearly frequency-swept mode-locked optical pulses of ns durations are generated, at the infrared telecommunications wavelength of 1.55 gm, by using chirped fiber Bragg gratings. The swept pulses appear as continuous wave signals, which completely fill the mode-locked pulse period which enables the implementation of semiconductor optical amplifying systems that completely circumvent the conventional limitation imposed by short pulse gain saturation. The use of these technologies is exemplified in a laser radar application that exploits the two characteristic coherent lengths in a chirped-pulse mode-locked laser, corresponding to the linewidth and the full lasing bandwidth, resulting in sub-mm resolution at the horizon. Finally, we show how stretched pulses can be used in a pulse shaping scheme to avoid detrimental nonlinearities associated with high power, optical pulse generation. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Progress in Quantum Electronics

    Volume

    36

    Issue/Number

    4-6

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Review

    Language

    English

    First Page

    475

    Last Page

    540

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000313387700001

    ISSN

    0079-6727

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