An apparatus for generating optical frequency combs and solitons includes a pump laser configured to output a pump signal with a pump wavelength, and a resonator module connected to the pump laser through an optical path and including a resonator and a waveguide structured to adjust a degree of coupling. The resonator generates at least one of pump combs at the pump wavelength, Raman combs at a Raman scattering wavelength or solitons, through different nonlinear phenomena.

A downhole sensing method includes modulating light to form a soliton that propagates through an optical fiber acting as a sensing element that measures a downhole parameter. The method further includes obtaining scattered light created as the soliton propagates through the optical fiber. The method further includes determining a value for a downhole parameter based on the scattered light, and displaying a representation of the value.

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.

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.

A frequency agile tunable self-injection locking laser system being formed by a laser device coupled to at least one optical resonator and method and controller therefor are disclosed. A diode current and an optical resonator are controllable. A self-injection locking range is selected and the self-injection locking range corresponds an optical feedback phase for back-reflected light from the optical resonator into the laser device. A diode current is set and a maximum tuning range of the actuation voltage in which self-injection locking is maintained is determined. The laser system is operated with actuation voltages in a range depending on the determined tuning range.

Ultrashort pulsed laser systems are described. In one example, a pulsed laser system includes a source laser configured to emit a pulsed source laser beam, a splitter configured to split the source laser beam into first and second input laser beams, a first amplifier module configured to amplify the first input laser beam using chirped pulse amplification (CPA) and to produce, at a first output port, a first output laser beam in a first spectral range based on soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) in the first amplifier module, a second amplifier module configured to amplify the second input laser beam using CPA and to produce an intermediate beam based on SSFS in the second amplifier module, and a mid-infrared fiber configured to receive the intermediate beam and to produce, at a second output port, a second output laser beam in a second spectral range based SSFS in the mid-infrared fiber.

Various example embodiments relate to the field of fiber laser technology. A fiber laser may comprise an active optical fiber configured to amplify an optical signal and a frequency shifter, which may be optically coupled to the active optical fiber. The frequency shifter may be configured to cause a frequency shift to the optical signal in a first direction. The fiber laser may further comprise a bandpass filter, which may be optically coupled to the frequency shifter. The bandpass filter and the active optical fiber may be configured to induce a reverse frequency shift to the optical signal in a second direction opposite to the first direction.

A super continuum light source includes an input light source having semiconductor diodes generating an input beam having a wavelength shorter than 2.5 microns. Optical amplifiers receive the input beam and form an amplified optical beam having a spectral width. The optical amplifiers may include a cladding-pumped fiber amplifier doped with rare-earth materials. A nonlinear element may include mid-infrared fibers to receive the amplified optical beam and to broaden the spectral width of the received amplified optical beam to 100 nm or more through a nonlinear effect forming an output beam, wherein the output beam is pulsed. At least a portion of the output beam is in a mid-infrared wavelength range between 2 microns and 5 microns and at least a portion of the one or more mid-infrared fibers comprises a ZBLAN fluoride fiber coupled to a chalcogenide fiber.

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 system for single pass amplification of dissipative soliton-like seed pulses of 1-20 ps to produce output pulses of 50-200 fs, without requiring a stretcher. Such an amplifier relies on the inherent chirp of the seed pulse out of the oscillator instead of pulse stretching.