A higher-order-mode (HOM) fiber of a fiber laser has step index and guidance diameter (GD) defining wavelength-dependent dispersion characteristics and effective areas for corresponding HOMS of optical signal propagation. One HOM has anomalous dispersion and effective area defining a first wavelength and first power of a pulse optical signal for conversion to a second wavelength and second power by soliton self-frequency shifting (SSFS). By controlling step index and GD, the dispersion and effective area of a HOM are adjusted to bring the second wavelength into a desired range, enabling applications requiring non-conventional fiber laser wavelengths. HOMS may share a predetermined group index and group velocity at wavelengths established by a Raman gain peak to effect wavelength conversion by interpulse and intermodal Raman scattering, which may occur in a cascaded fashion to yield multicolor lasers with desired wavelengths, pulse energies and pulse widths.

Optical pulse sources. In one example, the pulse source includes an optical fiber ring resonator with at least one normal dispersion fiber segment characterized by a positive group velocity dispersion (GVD) per unit length and at least one anomalous dispersion fiber segment characterized by a negative GVD per unit length. In another example, the pulse source includes an optical fiber ring resonator with one or more fiber segments having a positive net group velocity dispersion (GVD); and an intracavity spectral filter optically coupled to the one or more fiber segments. The pulse source is configured to generate one or more optical solitons in the optical fiber ring resonator.

The present disclosure provides a method and to a device for quantitatively sensing the power fraction of a radiation background of a pulsed laser. The disclosure further relates to the use of a saturable element. The method includes modulating a measurement beam, which is emitted by the laser, by means of a saturable element in accordance with the fluence of the measurement beam, detecting, by means of a modulation beam power detector, the power of the measurement beam modulated by the saturable element, and determining the power fraction of the radiation background of the pulsed laser on the basis of the detected power of the measurement beam modulated by means of the saturable element.

A spectroscopy system includes a light source having an input light source, including semiconductor diodes generating an input beam with a wavelength shorter than 2.5 microns. Cladding-pumped fiber amplifiers receive the input beam and form an amplified optical beam having a spectral width. A nonlinear element broadens the spectral width of the amplified optical beam to 100 nm or more through a nonlinear effect forming an output beam that is pulsed. A filter is coupled to at least one of a lens and a mirror that receives the output beam and delivers the filtered output beam to a sample. A detection system includes detectors configured to receive the output beam reflected or transmitted from the sample. The detection system is configured to use a lock-in technique with the pulsed output beam and the spectroscopy system is adapted to detect chemicals in the sample.

The present invention concerns a multiple soliton comb generation method comprising the steps of: providing a single optical resonator configured to support a plurality of distinct spatial modes in which light can propagate; providing an optical pump laser source; simultaneously optically pumping a plurality of distinct spatial modes of the single optical resonator to simultaneously generate independent soliton states in the distinct spatial modes and generate a plurality of frequency combs.

Methods and apparatus for providing dispersion-managed dissipative Kerr solitons on-chip are provided. Microresonators are also provided for producing such solitons. The solitons may be enabled by real-time dynamical measurements on frequency combs. Methods are further provided to determine the temporal structure of the intracavity field in both the fast time axis, with ultrafast time-lens magnifiers at 600 fs timing resolutions, and the slow time axis via optical sampling with a synchronized fiber frequency comb reference. An order-of-magnitude enlarged stability zone of the dispersion-managed dissipative Kerr solitons is achieved versus the static regimes.

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for divided-pulse lasers. In one aspect, a pulsed laser is provided to include a laser cavity including an optical amplifier and a plurality of optical dividing elements and configured to direct a laser pulse of linearly polarized light into the plurality of optical dividing elements to divide the light of the laser pulse into a sequence of divided pulses each having a pulse energy being a portion of the energy of the laser pulse before entry of the optical dividing elements, to subsequently direct the divided pulses into the optical amplifier to produce amplified divided pulses. The laser cavity is configured to direct the amplified divided pulses back into the plurality of optical dividing elements for a second time in an opposite direction to recombine the amplified divided pulses into a single laser pulse with greater pulse energy as an output pulse of the laser cavity.

An optical resonator (100) comprises an optical waveguide device (10) having an optical axis (OA) and extending with a longitudinal length between two waveguide end facets (11), resonator mirrors (13) being arranged for enclosing a resonator section (14) of the optical waveguide device (10), and a ferrule (20) having two ferrule facets (21), wherein the optical waveguide device (10) is mounted to the ferrule (20) and the ferrule (20) extends along the full longitudinal length of optical waveguide device (10). Furthermore, an optical apparatus (200) including the optical resonator (100) and a method of manufacturing the optical resonator (100) are described.

A femtosecond laser source includes an injection laser oscillator with an optical fiber doped with a given material, suitable for delivering, via an output optical fiber, a first picosecond pulse, at a first wavelength .sub.1; a power amplifier with an amplifying optical fiber for producing, from the first pulse, a second pulse at the first wavelength, with an energy that is amplified relative to the first pulse, the amplifying optical fiber being doped with the same material as the optical fiber of the injection oscillator and having a length less than or equal to the distance from the point of soliton compression and greater than the distance from which the amplifying optical fiber operates in non-linear mode; a fiber with a frequency shift suitable for receiving the second pulse and generating, by Raman self-shifting, a fundamental soliton at a second wavelength .sub.2 that is strictly greater than the first wavelength .sub.1.

Optical soliton pulses are generated using a drive unit to provide pump light at a drive power, a passive optical waveguide ring resonator, a spectral filter in the passive optical waveguide ring resonator, and an output to optically couple optical solitons from the passive optical waveguide ring resonator. The drive power, a net group velocity dispersion (GVD) of the passive optical waveguide ring resonator, a frequency detuning parameter of the passive optical waveguide ring resonator, and the spectral filter are configured to generate one or more optical solitons.