Patent ID: 6483628
Filing Date: 2002-11-19
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
A superfluorescent source, comprising:an optical pump; a laser medium with a dopant therein, the medium being pumped by pump light from the optical pump, the medium producing amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) having first and second orthogonal polarization components, the pump light providing unequal gain to the ASE in the first and second polarization components to cause the ASE to have a spectrum that has a mean wavelength for the first orthogonal polarization component that is different than a mean wavelength for the second orthogonal polarization component, the ASE being emitted from the medium in first and second directions; an optical coupler that optically couples the pump to the medium; a Faraday rotator mirror that receives the ASE emitted from the medium in the first direction and that reflects the ASE back to the medium to propagate in the second direction through the medium and be emitted from the medium in the second direction, the Faraday rotator mirror rotating the polarization of each orthogonal component of the reflected ASE by 90 degrees to cause the ASE emitted from the medium in the first direction in the first polarization to propagate back through the medium in the second direction in the second polarization and to cause the ASE emitted from the medium in the first direction in the second polarization to propagate back through the medium in the second direction in the first polarization, the pump light providing unequal gains to the first and second orthogonal polarization components of the reflected ASE propagating through the medium in the second direction such that a net gain experienced by the first orthogonal polarization component of the reflected ASE emitted from medium in the second direction is approximately equal to a net gain experienced by the second orthogonal polarization component of the reflected ASE emitted from the medium in the second direction, thereby reducing the polarization dependence of the output of the source; and an output port that couples ASE emitted in the second direction from the source.