Ultrafast Square Pulses

Executive Summary

It is desirable in many applications to precisely control the output pulse shape for high speed and high power laser systems.  A flat top, fist rise and fast fall pulse is a desired pulse shape.  In the case of a bandwidth-limited Gaussian pulse, the peak of the pulse is near the threshold but the rest of the pulse is well below the threshold. A square pulse shape would be able maintain the important maximum peak intensity while occupying a smaller temporal footprint.

Description of Technology

This technology is a laser add on system that provides for the generation of square temporal-shape pulses with no loss of spectral bandwidth, using phase modulation of coherent laser pulses with essentially any input spectrum.  The technology has been demonstrated numerically and with experimental results starting with 40fs pulses that are converted into flat-top pulses that are longer with very sharp on-off fronts.

Key Benefits

• No bandwidth loss
• Recover original pulse signal (telecommunications)
• Several orders of magnitude faster (fs)
• More cost effective due to passive optics
• Sharp signal inherent to square peak shape

Applications

• Optical fiber telecommunication
• Medical surgery
• Photonics research
• Micromachining
• Nonlinear optical imaging using a fiber-based endoscope

Patent Status: Patent application published no. WO2017059018

Licensing Rights Available: Full licensing rights available

Inventors: Marcos Dantus, Vadim Lozovoy

Tech ID: TEC2015-0115