The present disclosure relates to a kinetic inductance parametric amplifier that comprises an input port arranged to receive a pump tone, a DC bias and input signal; an output port arranged to provide an amplified version of the input signal; a tunable stepped-impedance assembly arranged to attenuate and/or filter predetermined frequency bands; and a high kinetic inductance line. The tunable stepped-impedance assembly is tuned at a frequency that allows for the amplifier to resonate at a predetermined frequency and a pump tone with a frequency higher than the input signal and a DC biasing signal to be transmitted to the high kinetic inductance line.

An optical computation system includes a light source configured to produce a pump beam, an optical modulator configured to modulate the pump beam based on the modulation mask to generate a modulated beam, a non-linear medium configured to convert a portion of the modulated beam to a second harmonic (SH) beam and to produce an output including the SH beam and an unconverted portion of the pump beam, and a dichroic mirror configured to receive the output of the non-linear medium and to decouple the SH beam and the unconverted portion of the pump beam, a detector configured to detect a first optical power of the unconverted portion of the pump beam and to detect a second optical power of the SH beam, and a controller configured to generate an updated modulation mask based on the first and second optical powers for transmission to the optical modulator.

A nonlinear crystal including stacked strontium tetraborate SrB.sub.4O.sub.7 (SBO) crystal plates that are cooperatively configured to create a periodic structure for quasi-phase-matching (QPM) is used in the final frequency doubling stage of a laser assembly to generate laser output light having a wavelength in the range of about 180 nm to 200 nm. One or more fundamental laser beams are frequency doubled, down-converted and/or summed using one or more frequency conversion stages to generate an intermediate frequency light with a corresponding wavelength in the range of about 360 nm to 400 nm, and then the final frequency converting stage utilizes the nonlinear crystal to double the frequency of the intermediate frequency light to generate the desired laser output light at high power. Methods, inspection systems, lithography systems and cutting systems incorporating the laser assembly are also described.

A coherent anti-stokes Raman scattering apparatus for imaging a sample includes an optical output; an optical source arranged to generate a first optical signal at a first wavelength; and a nonlinear element arranged to receive the first optical signal, where the nonlinear element is arranged to cause the first optical signal to undergo four-wave mixing on transmission through the nonlinear element such that a second optical signal at a second wavelength and a third optical signal at a third wavelength are generated, wherein an optical signal pair including two of the first, second and third optical signals is provided to the optical output for imaging the sample.

In one aspect, the present disclosure describes a fiber laser system for the generation and delivery of femtosecond (fs) pulses in multiple wavelength ranges. For improved versatility in multi-photon microscopy, an example of a dual wavelength fiber system based on Nd fiber source providing gain at 920 and 1060 nm is described. An example of a three-wavelength system is included providing outputs at 780 nm, 940 nm, and 1050 nm. The systems include dispersion compensation so that high quality fs pulses are provided for applications in microscopy, for example in multiphoton microscope (MPM) systems.

Optimally detuned parametric amplification amplifies a signal in a resonator that is driven off-resonance, with respect to a signal mode, using a far-detuned pump. This pump establishes a parametric drive strength, and is “far-detuned” in that its detuning from the signal mode is greater than the drive strength. The amplitude and frequency of the pump are chosen so that the eigenfrequency of the resulting Bogoliobov mode matches a photonic loss rate of the Bogoliobov mode. In this case, a signal coupled into the Bogoliobov mode will be amplified with a gain that is broader and flatter than that achieved with conventional parametric amplification, and is not limited by a gain-bandwidth product. Optimally detuned parametric amplification may be used for degenerate or non-degenerate parametric amplification, and may be used to amplify microwaves, light, electronic signals, acoustic waves, or any other type of signal that can be amplified using conventional parametric amplification.

A tunable parametric mixer comprising a pump laser, a nonlinear waveguide, and a refractive index tuner. The pump laser is configured to generate pump photons. The nonlinear waveguide comprises a cladding and a core. The core is made of nonlinear optical material and the cladding in made of a material with a tunable index of refraction. The nonlinear waveguide is configured to convert the pump photons into signal and idler photons. The refractive index tuner is configured to change the refractive index of the cladding to dynamically tune the dispersion properties of the nonlinear waveguide in order to alter a spectral location of a gain band of the parametric mixer.

A system and method for separating signal quadratures includes obtaining, by a parametric amplifier, an input signal, amplifying, by the parametric amplifier, the input signal to create an amplified signal and generating an idler. The idler is a conjugate image of the input signal. The system and method also include obtaining, by a frequency converter, the amplified signal and the conjugate image and converting the amplified signal and the conjugate image into a first output and a second output, where the first output includes a first signal quadrature and the second output includes a second output quadrature.

A high-efficiency non-collinearly phase matched parametric oscillator is provided, wherein a laser pumps a nonlinear optical material with a plural number of flat reflection surfaces that zigzag at least one parametrically generated off-axis radiation about the pump laser beam axis via multiple reflections from the surfaces. The off-axis zigzag oscillation of the radiation establishes parametric oscillation and improves energy coupling among mixing waves in a monolithic nonlinear optical material. Preferably the pump laser has a transverse beam size covering the area of the zigzagging parametrically generated radiation. To further enhance the performance of the off-axis zigzag parametric oscillator, the other parametrically generated radiation can be seeded by an external laser source or resonated in a cavity. The present invention also includes a double-side pumped off-axis zigzag parametric oscillator installed inside a standing-wave pump-laser cavity.

The invention is a nonlinear Raman optical device generating zig-zag radiation beam paths in a nonlinear medium having dichroic coatings reflecting at a pump radiation wavelength, with a first mirror between an injected beam of pump radiation and a first end of the nonlinear medium and a second mirror at a second end of the nonlinear medium, the second mirror being partially reflecting at a first Stokes wavelength of the pump radiation.