In various embodiments, cold-start times and performance of wavelength-beam-combining laser resonators are improved via adjustment of the operating wavelengths and/or temperature of beam emitters within the resonators.

Disclosed is a system and a method for generating high-power laser pulses with very high repetition rate. The laser system includes an oscillator capable of generating a source laser beam including a series of sources pulses with femtosecond or picosecond duration at a first repetition frequency no lower than 800 megahertz and an optical amplifier system suitable for receiving and amplifying the series of source pulses at a second repetition frequency that is equal to or a multiple of the first repetition frequency, the multiple being a non-negative integer greater than or equal to two, so as to generate a series of laser pulses with very high repetition frequency.

A laser system includes a first laser source with a laser resonator for generating a first pulsed laser beam. The resonator has a back mirror, an outcoupling mirror and an active lasing medium in between. The system includes a second laser source for generating a second pulsed laser beam and an optical block. The optical block includes a coupling polarizer and a first polarization rotator. The optical block is movable back and forth between an active position and a passive position. In its active position the optical block is located between the outcoupling mirror and the active lasing medium such that the coupling polarizer couples the second beam into the laser resonator of the first laser source while the first rotator is positioned between the outcoupling mirror and the coupling polarizer. In the active position of the optical block a second polarization rotator is between it and the back mirror.

A folded slab waveguide laser having a hybrid waveguide-unstable resonator cavity. Multiple slab waveguides of thickness t supporting vertical waveguide modes are physically arranged above one another in a stack and optically arranged in series through one or more cavity folding assemblies with curved mirrors. A gain medium such as a gas is arranged in each slab. Each cavity folding assembly is designed to redirect the radiation beam emitted from one slab waveguide into the next waveguide and also at the same time to provide a focus for the radiation beam so that a selected vertical waveguide mode (or modes) is (or are) coupled efficiently into the next slab.

In at least one illustrative embodiment, a laser may include a ceramic body defining a chamber containing a laser gas. The chamber may include first and second slab waveguide sections extending along parallel first and second axes and a third slab waveguide section extending along a perpendicular third axis. Respective first ends of the first and second slab waveguide sections may be positioned adjacent opposite ends of the third slab waveguide section. The laser may also include first and second end mirrors positioned at respective second ends of the first and second slab waveguide sections, a first fold mirror positioned near an intersection of the first and third axes at a 45-degree angle to both the first and third axes, and a second fold mirror positioned near an intersection of the second and third axes at a 45-degree angle to both the second and third axes, such that the first, second, and third slab waveguide sections waveguide recirculating light that is polarized orthogonal to a plane defined by the first, second, and third axes.

A laser resonator includes a pair of optical elements forming a first optical path having a focused beam waist, one or more mirrors forming a second optical path of approximately parallel light connected to the first optical path, and a laser medium arranged in the second optical path. Induced emission light generated from the laser medium reciprocates or circles in a path formed by the first optical path and the second optical path. A distance between the pair of optical elements is adjustable, and a beam diameter at the second optical path is adjusted by adjusting the distance between the pair of optical elements.

The present invention relates to a microdisk laser having characteristics of unidirectional emission and an ultra-high quality factor and also a microdisk laser composed of four circular arcs and configured to emit light in one direction in a resonance mode having the form of a whispering gallery mode formed by total reflection.

A frequency-doubled laser, including: a first reflecting mirror, a second reflecting mirror, a gain medium, a telescope module, a polarizing element, and a nonlinear crystal; the first reflecting mirror and the second reflecting mirror are spaced apart to form a resonator of the frequency-doubled laser; the polarizing element, the gain medium, the telescope module, and the nonlinear crystal are located in the resonator, and the telescope module is located between the gain medium and the nonlinear crystal. The present disclosure further provides a method of generating harmonic laser. The frequency-doubled laser and the method of generating harmonic laser make the position of nonlinear crystal more flexible, and the possibility of damage to the nonlinear crystal is reduced.

A method for expanding a tuning range of an all-solid-state continuous-wave single-frequency laser is provided. The method includes inserting a nonlinear frequency-doubling crystal into a laser resonant cavity, and converting a part of intra-cavity fundamental-frequency light to frequency-doubled light by the nonlinear frequency-doubling crystal, outputting the generated frequency-doubled light and the fundamental-frequency light together from the laser resonant cavity, and separating the two via a spectroscope. The method also includes splitting a part of the fundamental-frequency light reflected by the spectroscope through an optical beam-splitter, and outputting the remaining part of the fundamental-frequency light as a main laser. A cavity length of the laser resonant cavity is changed by adjusting a voltage loaded on a piezoelectric ceramic of the all-solid-state continuous-wave single-frequency laser, thereby achieving continuous frequency-tuning of the all-solid-state continuous-wave single-frequency laser.

A method and system for injection-locking multiple optical amplifiers is disclosed. A master laser is employed to generate a continuous-wave output field. Optical modulators then produce first and second seed optical fields from the continuous-wave output field. The first and second seed optical fields provide an input to injection lock one or more optical amplifiers, optionally at different operating frequencies. Since the first and second seed optical fields are generated from the continuous-wave output field then the output fields of the optical amplifiers exhibit a high phase-coherence with each other and with the continuous-wave output field. Employing the first and second optical fields reduces the requirement to induce large frequency shifts on a single optical field. Techniques for phase-locking the output of the injection-locked laser systems are also provided to further reduce phase noise within the systems.