Patent ID: 6674773
Filing Date: 2004-01-06
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
A multi-wavelength Raman laser, comprising:an optical ring laser cavity having an optical ring fiber with its two ends coupled nearby in an optical fiber ring; a Raman fiber disposed in said optical ring, the Raman fiber having multiple modes over a pumping wavelength to a plurality of signal wavelengths; an optical coupler disposed between the two ends of the optical ring fiber, the coupler having at least a first optical coupler port and a second optical coupler port; the first optical coupler port facilitating the feedback cavity coupling of optical pump power with a plurality of filtered optical signals for pumping the Raman fiber at the pumping wavelength into said ring to obtain the plurality of optical signals wherein gain is provided by Raman amplification over at least one Stokes order corresponding to the pumping wavelength in response to a Raman interaction of the optical pump power and a phonon spectrum of the Raman fiber; a periodic filter disposed in said ring, the periodic filter having a filter spectrum placed approximately at the at least one Stokes order, the filter spectrum including a plurality of signal wavelength pass bands separated by a fixed wavelength spacing, the periodic filter preferentially passing the plurality of optical signals to filter out the plurality of filtered optical signals having the plurality of signal wavelengths with fixed spacings therebetween; and the second optical coupler port coupling out of said ring a fraction of optical power of said plurality of filtered optical signals circulating in a first direction on said ring.