Patent ID: 7599413

Claim:
A self-contained module enabling optical control of a slave laser with randomly fluctuating optical cavity length, said module comprising an electrically-excited semiconductor laser called seed laser or seeder; a thermoelectric controller in thermal contact with the seeder, said thermoelectric controller is controlled by a TEC circuit and is adjusted at a temperature where the seeder emits optical seeds of wavelength in the vicinity of the randomly fluctuating resonant wavelength of the slave laser, the TEC circuit further maintains the temperature during the operation of the seeder; an electric circuit to generate electric current for driving the seed laser, wherein the electric current periodically varies with time in radio frequency such that the seeder emits light with a narrowband spectrum at any instant of time, while the central wavelength (peak) of the narrowband spectrum changes as the drive current varies, the waveform, amplitude, and rate of the time-varying current are so selected that the seeder output wavelength continuously sweeps over a range covering one or more randomly fluctuating longitudinal mode(s) of the slave laser and the sweeping is so rapid that buildup of longitudinal modes in the slave laser is not completed in a sweeping cycle, whereby the wavelength of the injected optical seeds can always match a longitudinal mode of the slave laser when the slave laser builds lasing mode in response to a trigger; optical elements for controlling propagation direction of light; and a housing containing the seeder and its driving circuit, the thermoelectric controller and the TEC circuit, and the optical elements, wherein the shell of the housing is open with at least one hole allowing light propagation between the interior and exterior of the module, wherein the optical elements shape and direct the optical seeds emitted from the seeder to a hole of the shell, wherein the optical elements direct any lights from outside of the housing away from the seeder and to one or more hole(s) of the shell for exit, wherein the optical elements provide unidirectional optical coupling between the seeder and outside of the housing; such that coupling between the seeder and the seeded slave laser is purely optical whereby neither modifications nor additional adaptations of the seeded slave laser are required to guarantee frequency match between the injected optical seeds and the slave laser longitudinal modes (non-invasive master-slave resonance); whereby phase locking between the injected and the output signals is not necessary; whereby active cavity length control of the slave laser oscillator is not required and the optical cavity length of the seeded slave laser is allowed to randomly fluctuate with time.