A gain mirror is created for use as an optical amplifier in a solid state ring laser rotation sensor. Such a ring laser includes at least three mirrors for reflecting counter propagating laser beams around a closed loop optical path, wherein at least one of the mirrors is a gain mirror. The gain mirror is formed by applying a thin film of silica, a few half wavelengths thick and doped with Nd isotopes, onto a very high reflectivity mirror and then using a laser diode to pump it with intense light to form a population inversion in Nd.sup.3+ ions. An assembly consisting of this gain mirror and a pump laser diode can be used as an optical amplifier in a solid state ring laser to generate the two counter propagating laser light beams needed to measure rotation.

A short-pulse, narrowband, line-selectable and tunable solid-state laser is described. The device requires a pump source, an active solid-state laser medium, an enclosing cavity, mirrors to contain the light, a method of removing the pulse from the cavity, a wavelength selection system, and a laser linewidth narrowing system. One implementation of this is an Er:YAG laser, side pumped by semiconductor lasers in the erbium absorption band near 1475 nm, with an intracavity etalon and a switchable spectral filter. To remove the pulse from the cavity, cavity dumping issues, which assures constant pulse energy and pulse length over a range of repetition rates, in this case from 100 Hz to 20 kHz. Line selection is obtained by use of wavelength filters and fine tuning with an etalon, which also acts as the linewidth narrowing system.

A tunable microwave source based on dual-wavelength lasing of a single optical whispering gallery microcavity includes a dual-wavelength laser having the single optical whispering gallery microcavity for generating dual-wavelength lasing with adjustable spacing, narrow linewidth and low threshold; an optical fiber or waveguide amplifier for optical signal amplification; an optical filter for optical signal and noise filtration; and a high-speed detector for generating a tunable microwave signal with narrow bandwidth. The dual-wavelength laser includes a pump source, the optical whispering gallery microcavity, an optical waveguide or a tapered optical fiber, a microcavity substrate, and a gold electrode pair. The frequency spacing of the dual-wavelength lasing is tuned by adjusting the external voltage of the gold electrode pair.

An apparatus for emitting pulsed electromagnetic laser radiation includes a laser gain element; an optical arrangement defining a laser resonator and arranged to re-direct radiation emitted by the gain element along a beam path back onto the gain element, the optical arrangement comprising an output coupler configured to couple a portion of the radiation in the laser resonator out of the laser resonator; and, a pump arrangement configured to pump the laser gain element. The optical arrangement includes a mode locker placed in the laser resonator in the beam path, and a birefringent element placed in the laser resonator in the beam path.

A pulsed third-harmonic laser system includes a pulsed laser, an extra-cavity nonlinear crystal, and an intracavity nonlinear crystal. The pulsed laser generates fundamental laser pulses and couples out a portion of each fundamental laser pulse out of the laser resonator to undergo second-harmonic-generation in the extra-cavity nonlinear crystal. Resulting second-harmonic laser pulses are directed back into the laser resonator and mixes with the fundamental laser pulses in the intracavity nonlinear crystal to generate third-harmonic laser pulses. The pulsed third-harmonic laser system thus maintains a non-zero output coupling efficiency regardless of the efficiency of the second-harmonic-generation stage, while the third-harmonic-generation stage benefits from the intracavity power of the fundamental laser pulses.

A laser for emitting simultaneously a first and second laser lights having respectively first and second wavelength differing from each other. The laser comprises: an optical resonator defining a first optical path and a second optical path, the first laser light travelling along the first optical path and the second laser light travelling along the second optical path; a modulated gain element inserted in the optical resonator for amplifying the first and second laser lights as the first and second laser lights propagate in the optical resonator respectively along the first and second optical paths, the modulated gain element having a variable gain modulated with a modulation period, round trip times of the first and second laser lights along respectively the first and second optical paths being respective integer multiples of the modulation period; and an output port for releasing the first and second laser lights from the optical resonator.

A laser system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an oscillation unit to generate a laser output, a connection unit to connect the oscillation unit with an optical fiber loop, an amplifying unit to amplify the laser output on the optical fiber loop, a conversion unit disposed on the optical fiber loop to convert pulsed wave laser output into continuous wave laser output, and an output unit disposed between the connection unit and the conversion unit to split a part of the laser output toward the conversion unit. The system for generating a high output pulsed wave laser and converting the pulsed wave laser into a continuous wave laser may be implemented in a simple structure and small size with high stability and high reproducibility. In addition, a high output laser may be obtained. Also, since conversion from the pulsed wave into the continuous wave is easy, both of the high output pulsed wave and the high output continuous wave may be obtained as necessary.

A frequency comb laser providing large comb spacing is disclosed. At least one embodiment includes a mode locked waveguide laser system. The mode locked waveguide laser includes a laser cavity having a waveguide, and a dispersion control unit (DCU) in the cavity. The DCU imparts an angular dispersion, group-velocity dispersion (GVD) and a spatial chirp to a beam propagating in the cavity. The DCU is capable of producing net GVD in a range from a positive value to a negative value. In some embodiments a tunable fiber frequency comb system configured as an optical frequency synthesizer is provided. In at least one embodiment a low phase noise micro-wave source may be implemented with a fiber comb laser having a comb spacing greater than about 1 GHz. The laser system is suitable for mass-producible fiber comb sources with large comb spacing and low noise. Applications include high-resolution spectroscopy.

The technology of this application relates to the field of communication technologies, and an optical fiber raw material composition, an optical fiber, and an optical fiber product. The optical fiber raw material composition includes components of the following molar percentages: AlF.sub.3 10%-50%, BaF.sub.2 3%-20%, CaF.sub.2 3%-20%, YF.sub.3 1%-15%, SrF.sub.2 3%-20%, MgF.sub.2 3%-20%, and TeO.sub.2 1%-35%. The optical fiber prepared by using the optical fiber raw material composition provided in this disclosure can be used in aspects such as a mid-infrared band transmission optical fiber, an optical fiber amplifier, a fiber laser, and an optical fiber sensor.

A multi-wavelength laser device equipped with a linear cavity along which a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction are defined is disclosed. The apparatus includes, along the first direction, a first optical component, a gain and Raman medium, a sum frequency generation crystal, a first second-harmonic generation crystal and a second optical component. The first optical component allows a pumping light to transmit therethrough and be incident in the first direction. The gain and Raman medium receives the pumping light from the first optical component and generates a first infrared base laser light having a first wavelength and a second infrared base laser light having a second wavelength. The first and second optical components form a laser cavity for oscillation of these two infrared base laser lights. The sum frequency generation crystal receives the first and second infrared base laser lights and generates a first visible laser light having a third wavelength. The first second-harmonic generation crystal receives the first infrared base laser light and generates a second visible laser light having a fourth wavelength. The second optical element allows the first and the second visible laser lights to emit out along the first direction.