Apparatus include a mode-locked laser cavity configured to produce a mode-locked output beam, wherein the laser cavity includes a gain medium situated in the laser cavity and an intracavity optical coating filter situated in the laser cavity to receive an intracavity beam, wherein the intracavity optical coating filter has an attenuation profile configured to suppress laser oscillation over a selected portion of the gain bandwidth of the gain medium and to increase a bandwidth of the mode-locked output beam based on the suppression. Related optical coatings are disclosed. Methods of arranging coatings and reducing pulse duration are also disclosed.

An all-fiber configuration system and method for generating temporally coherent supercontinuum pulsed emission are provided. The system includes a sequential structure of all-fiber sections including: a fiber laser seed source to produce a seed pulse with given optical properties; a stretching section including an optical fiber to temporally stretch the seed pulse; an amplification section including an active optical fiber, doped with a rare earth element, to amplify the stretched pulse by progressively stimulating radiation of active ions of the doped active optical fiber; a compressing section to temporally compress the amplified pulse; and a spectrum broadening section including an ANDi microstructured fiber that spectrally broadens the compressed pulse by a nonlinear effect of Self Phase Modulation (SPM) while maintaining the temporal coherence of the pulse.

A method for amplifying an ultrashort laser pulse includes: a) stretching the ultrashort laser pulse in time, b) amplifying the time-stretched laser pulse, c) compressing the amplified time-stretched laser pulse, with at least one gain phase contribution selected from a group consisting of a gain dynamics phase contribution of the laser pulse that emerges as a change in a nonlinear phase on account of gain dynamics in step b), a gain bandwidth phase contribution of the laser pulse that emerges as a change in the nonlinear phase on account of a gain bandwidth in step b), and a combination thereof, being compensated by virtue of d) an additional phase contribution being imparted on the laser pulse prior to step c) and/or e) a spectrum of the laser pulse being changed, in such a way that the at least one gain phase contribution is compensated after step c).

A laser device according to one embodiment includes a laser light source configured to output pulsed laser light L1 and a pulse width control unit configured to amplify the pulsed laser light output from the laser light source, change a pulse width of the pulsed laser light, and output the pulsed laser light. The pulse width control unit includes a first laser amplifier configured to amplify the pulsed laser light and a pulse waveform manipulation unit disposed between the first laser amplifier and the laser light source and configured to manipulate a pulse waveform of the pulsed laser light.

A laser system for the generation of ultrashort optical pulses of light including an oscillator emitting low power and negatively chirped optical pulses with a spectral bandwidth W1, a dispersive connecting segment to maintain the sign of the chirp of the pulses of the oscillator, an optical amplifier for amplifying the optical light pulses and a negative group velocity dispersion segment for compensating phase contributions of the whole propagation process. During the propagation from the output of the oscillator to the end of the optical amplifier, the chirp of the light pulses will change once from negative to positive chirp. After a final compression stage ultrashort optical pulses can be generated.

The present disclosure provides a narrow-pulse-width pulse laser, including a circuit substrate, a laser chip, one or more capacitors, and a field effect transistor. Each of the field effect transistor, the capacitor, and the laser chip is electrically connected to the circuit substrate. The capacitors are arranged between the field effect transistor and the laser chip along an extension direction of a gap between the field effect transistor and the laser chip. The circuit substrate may include a first conductor layer; a second conductor layer; and an insulating layer arranged between the first conductor layer and the second conductor layer, wherein the first conductor layer and the second conductor layer are electrically connected through a via hole in the insulating layer.

Aspects of the disclosure provide a system and method used for time-of-flight lidar applications. Such systems and methods include a laser and pulse clipper which produces a shuttering effect to reduce the instantaneous output power from the pulse clipper. Accordingly the output from the pulse clipper is more suitable for time-of-flight lidar applications than that initially produced by the laser. This can allow for lasers which may otherwise exceed eye safety limits to be used for time-of-flight lidar applications without exceeding the eye safety limits.

A method of generating an optical pulse train using spectral extension by optical phase modulation, spectral narrowing by optical phase demodulation, and narrow linewidth optical filtering is disclosed. It is also described that the wavelength selection of light using a chromatic dispersion element between the optical phase modulator can enrich the method. Systems include an in-line optical setup and a ring-type laser cavity for mode-locked laser outputs. The duration with which the electrical signals driving the modulators are opposed determines the line width of the optical pulses, and the opposite repetition of the electrical signals defines the rate of repetition of an optical pulse train generated. Four different arrangements of electrical signals in the time domain or phase domain make it possible to control the generation of optical pulses and the wavelength selection of the light. (i) A signal arrangement comprising sinusoidal electrical signals with a slight frequency difference. (ii) A signal arrangement comprising a phase-shift between electrical signals. (iii) A signal arrangement comprising a phase-shift between electrical signals depending on the amplitude of the bits. (iv) A signal arrangement comprising random electric waves that repeat themselves over a predefined period to allow the insertion of controllable time delays between each other.

A light source employed in a coherent Raman scattering (CRS) spectroscopic apparatus or a CRS microscope includes a chromium forsterite laser (CrFL), a variable delay optical path configured to delay one optical pulse of branched optical pulses obtained by dividing an optical pulse from the CrFL according to a power, a highly nonlinear waveguide into which the other optical pulse of the branched optical pulses is input, a first wavelength filter connected to an output of the highly nonlinear waveguide, an ytterbium-doped glass fiber optical amplifier (YbFA) connected to an output of the wavelength filter, and a second wavelength filter connected to an output of the YbFA. The light source includes a one-optical path mode in which two wavelength bands corresponding to Raman scattering wavenumbers to be used for measurement are selected from an output of the variable delay optical path, and a two-optical path mode in which an output of the variable delay optical path and an output of the second wavelength filter are time-synchronized.

A Q-switched gas laser apparatus with bivariate pulse equalization includes a gas laser, a sensor, and an electronic circuit. A Q-switch that switches the laser resonator between high-loss and low-loss states to generate a pulsed laser beam. The sensor obtains a measurement of the pulsed laser beam indicative of the laser pulse energy. The electronic circuitry operates the Q-switch to (a) repeatedly switch the laser resonator between the high-loss and low-loss states to set a repetition rate of laser pulses of the pulsed laser beam, (b) adjust a loss level of the low-loss state, based on the pulse energy measurement, to achieve a target laser pulse energy, and (c) adjust a duration of the low-loss state to achieve a target laser pulse duration. By adjusting both pulse energy and duration, uniform pulse energy and, if desired, uniform pulse duration are achieved over a wide range of repetition rates.