Patent ID: 8630320

Claim:
An apparatus for producing coherent pulsed light with a fiber-based master oscillator/fiber amplifier architecture, the apparatus comprising: a fiber-coupled mode-locked laser source configured to provide pulses having a pulse duration of less than 1 ns; a fiber-coupled amplitude modulator optically coupled to the fiber-coupled mode-locked laser source, the fiber-coupled amplitude modulator configured for gate durations greater than 1 ns to deliver gated pulse packets having more than one pulse per pulse packet; and a fiber power amplifier optically coupled to the fiber-coupled amplitude modulator and configured for operating in a saturated mode from the pulse packets, wherein the fiber-coupled amplitude modulator comprises at least one of a Mach-Zehnder modulator or an acousto-optic modulator, each modulator configured to deliver gated pulse packets having more than one pulse per pulse packet.