A weapons system with at least two HEL effectors, which have at least one beam guidance system, the use of only one laser source or one pump source for the at least two HEL effectors is provided. The beam guidance systems of the HEL effectors resort to the common laser source or common pump source. An optical link of the common laser source or of the common pump source with the beam guidance system, be it direct or indirect, is implemented by means of at least one optical switching unit, and so at least one functional, complete HEL effector of the weapons system is provided to defend against threats.

A WDM seed beam source for a fiber laser amplifier system that includes a number of master oscillators that generate seed beams at different wavelengths and a spectral multiplexer that multiplexes all of the seed beams onto a single fiber. An EOM modulates the combined seed beams on the single fiber and a spectral demultiplexer then separates the modulated seed beams into their constituent wavelengths on separate fibers before the seed beams are amplified and spectrally combined. The fiber laser amplifier system includes a separate fiber amplifier that amplifies the separated seed beams, an emitter array that directs the amplified beams into free space, beam collimating optics that focuses the uncombined beams, and an SBC grating responsive to the collimated uncombined beams that spatially combines the collimated uncombined beams.

Apparatus and methods for producing ultrashort optical pulses are described. A high-power, solid-state, passively mode-locked laser can be manufactured in a compact module that can be incorporated into a portable instrument for biological or chemical analyses. The pulsed laser may produce sub-100-ps optical pulses at a repetition rate commensurate with electronic data-acquisition rates. The optical pulses may excite samples in reaction chambers of the instrument, and be used to generate a reference clock for operating signal-acquisition and signal-processing electronics of the instrument.

Apparatus include a first optical fiber including a core situated to propagate a signal beam at a signal wavelength and an unwanted stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) beam at an SRS wavelength associated with the signal wavelength, and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) situated in a core of a second optical fiber optically coupled to the core of the first optical fiber, the FBG having a selected grating reflectivity associated with the SRS wavelength and being situated to reflect the SRS beam back along the core of the second optical fiber and to reduce a damage associated with propagation of the SRS beam to power sensitive laser system components optically coupled to the second optical fiber. Methods are also disclosed.

A laser device includes: a traveling wave type resonator comprising a first mirror and a second mirror; and a laser medium disposed between the first mirror and the second mirror. The first mirror and the second mirror are disposed such that round-trip light that travels in round trips in the resonator has a focus inside the laser medium. The laser device is configured such that: excitation light incident on the resonator is superimposed on the round-trip light at the focus and narrowed to be thinner than the round-trip light, Z.sub.R×α<0.5 is satisfied, where Z.sub.R is a Rayleigh length of the excitation light and α is an absorption coefficient of the laser medium with respect to the excitation light, and a round-trip Gouy phase shift of the resonator has a value excluding 2π×n/m where m is an integer of less than 15 and n is an integer of equal to or less than m.

The present disclosure provides a waveguide integrated optical modulator, which is made of a bismuth film, an antimony film, or a tellurium film. A thickness of the bismuth film, the antimony film, or the tellurium film is between 10 nm and 200 nm, and the bismuth film, the antimony film, or the tellurium film is produced by physical vapor deposition method. The waveguide integrated optical modulator can directly add the symmetrical electrode on the surface of the bismuth film, the antimony film, or the tellurium film, and apply an external bias voltage of different amplitudes to the bismuth film, the antimony film, or the tellurium film by adjusting the power source. Thus, the waveguide integrated optical modulator can actively control the nonlinear optical characteristics of the saturable absorber by changing the magnitude of the external voltage, and further actively modulate the laser characteristics of the pulse.

An external resonator-type semiconductor laser device 1A includes an external resonator formed of one or a plurality of laser diode light sources and a VBG; an optical fiber which outputs output light La from the laser diode light source toward the VBG, and into which return light Lb from the VBG is input; and a displacement unit that displaces a disposition position of the VBG with respect to an input and output end surface of the optical fiber.

Apparatus and methods for producing ultrashort optical pulses are described. A high-power, solid-state, passively mode-locked laser can be manufactured in a compact module that can be incorporated into a portable instrument for biological or chemical analyses. The pulsed laser may produce sub-100-ps optical pulses at a repetition rate commensurate with electronic data-acquisition rates. The optical pulses may excite samples in reaction chambers of the instrument, and be used to generate a reference clock for operating signal-acquisition and signal-processing electronics of the instrument.

The present invention discloses a transverse mode switchable all-fiber high-order mode Brillouin laser. The laser comprises a narrow linewidth pump laser, an optical amplifier, a 1×N optical switch (N≥2), a fiber mode selection coupler group, a first polarization controller, a fiber circulator, a fiber coupler, a second polarization controller, and a few-mode fiber. Based on the Brillouin nonlinear gain of a few-mode fiber in a ring cavity, the present invention realizes the resonance amplification of a specific order transverse mode in the cavity, and obtains the transverse mode switchable high-order mode laser beam output. The present invention, adopting an all-fiber structure, has the advantages of simple structure, low cost, easy fiber system integration, high stability and narrow linewidth of outputted laser beams, etc., and improves the practicality and reliability of high-order mode lasers.

Designs of fiber lasers with a laser resonator with an intracavity Raman-suppressing slanted fiber Bragg sating to provide bidirectional suppression of Raman light.