Provided is a variable wavelength laser device that achieves phase control of high precision while restraining thermal interference and stably outputs emission light of desired wavelength.

The variable wavelength laser device of the present invention includes: an optical amplification means including a low-reflective surface that reflects light of wavelengths other than a predetermined wavelength and emits light of the predetermined wavelength; a wavelength control means for controlling wavelength of light being transmitted through the optical waveguide; a phase control means for controlling phase of light being transmitted through the optical waveguide using heat emitted by a heating means; a reflection means for totally reflecting the inputted light; and a heat dissipation means for restraining transfer of heat emitted by the heating means to regions other than a region in which the phase control means is disposed.

The invention relates to a tunable laser source, and the reduction in the loss and the size can both be achieved in a tunable laser source having a power monitor and a wavelength locker function. A tunable laser is formed of a semiconductor optical amplifier and a resonator, and one of the two output light beams split from part of the light within the tunable laser by a 2×2 type optical splitter is incident into a light intensity monitor, and the other is incident into a wavelength locker.

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.

Systems and apparatuses for a polarization laser sensor are disclosed. The polarization laser sensor can include a pump source, a common section, a reference section and a detection section. The common section is provided with a gain medium, and the detection section is provided with a sensing element configured to cause an optical path difference. The reference section and the detection section are connected to the common section though a first polarization splitting unit and a second polarization splitting unit. The common section is provided with an output unit or each of the reference section and the detection is provided with the output unit, the output unit is connected to a photoelectric detector through a light uniting unit, and a polarization rotation unit is disposed between the light uniting unit and the output unit.

Systems and apparatuses for a polarization laser sensor are disclosed. The polarization laser sensor can include a pump source, a common section, a reference section and a detection section. The common section is provided with a gain medium, and the detection section is provided with a sensing element configured to cause an optical path difference. The reference section and the detection section are connected to the common section though a first polarization splitting unit and a second polarization splitting unit. The common section is provided with an output unit or each of the reference section and the detection is provided with the output unit, the output unit is connected to a photoelectric detector through a light uniting unit, and a polarization rotation unit is disposed between the light uniting unit and the output unit.

A fiber optic ring laser, and non-transitory computer readable medium for using a fiber optic ring laser are disclosed. The disclosed fiber optic ring laser includes a semiconductor booster optical amplifier (BOA), as a gain medium; a Fiber Fabry Perot Tunable Filter (FFP-TF), as a wavelength selection element; an optical isolator (ISO) to insure unidirectional operation of the fiber optic ring laser; and a polarization controller (PC) for attaining an optimized polarization state in order to achieve a stable-generated output in terms of output power and wavelength, wherein the BOA, the FFP-TF, the ISO and the PC are coupled to form a ring configuration that implements a continuously tunable booster amplifier-based fiber ring laser.

A semiconductor laser tuned with an acousto-optic modulator. The acousto-optic modulator may generate standing waves or traveling waves. When traveling waves are used, a second acousto-optic modulator may be used in a reverse orientation to cancel out a chirp created in the first acousto-optic modulator. The acousto-optic modulator may be used with standing-wave laser resonators or ring lasers.

A compact laser is provided for in accordance with an exemplary embodiment in the present disclosure includes a compact resonator structure using a non-planar geometry of bulk components. The laser includes a preferred rotational direction of lasing modes and employs bulk components for establishing the preferred rotational direction of lasing modes within resonator. In some embodiments, the preferred rotational direction of lasing modes is established using a reflective element that is outside the resonator structure. In some embodiments, the reflective element induces polarization shifts in the reflected light that are compensated for by a wave plate, which may be outside the resonator structure.

Examples of the present invention include integrated erbium-doped waveguide lasers designed for silicon photonic systems. In some examples, these lasers include laser cavities defined by distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) formed in silicon nitride-based waveguides. These DBRs may include grating features defined by wafer-scale immersion lithography, with an upper layer of erbium-doped aluminum oxide deposited as the final step in the fabrication process. The resulting inverted ridge-waveguide yields high optical intensity overlap with the active medium for both the 980 nm pump (89%) and 1.5 μm laser (87%) wavelengths with a pump-laser intensity overlap of over 93%. The output powers can be 5 mW or higher and show lasing at widely-spaced wavelengths within both the C- and L-bands of the erbium gain spectrum (1536, 1561 and 1596 nm).

A pulse multiplier includes a polarizing beam splitter, a wave plate, and a set of mirrors. The polarizing beam splitter receives an input laser pulse. The wave plate receives light from the polarized beam splitter and generates a first set of pulses and a second set of pulses. The first set of pulses has a different polarization than the second set of pulses. The polarizing beam splitter, the wave plate, and the set of mirrors create a ring cavity. The polarizing beam splitter transmits the first set of pulses as an output of the pulse multiplier and reflects the second set of pulses into the ring cavity. This pulse multiplier can inexpensively reduce the peak power per pulse while increasing the number of pulses per second with minimal total power loss.