Patent ID: 8184262

Claim:
A system for equalizing pulse to pulse energy of a light beam having an unequalized input intensity, comprising: a group of optical devices including a nonlinear interference filter configured to exhibit third order nonlinear properties that receives an unequalized light beam, the nonlinear interference filter comprising a bistable device configured to reflect a first portion of the unequalized light beam and pass a second portion of the unequalized light beam such that: when an input intensity of the received unequalized light beam is higher than a first threshold, the bistable device passes a greater amount of the second portion of the unequalized light beam than previously passed and reflects a smaller amount of the reflected first portion than previously reflected, and when the input intensity of the received unequalized light beam is lower than a second threshold, the bistable device passes a smaller amount of the second portion of the unequalized light beam than previously passed and reflects a greater amount of the reflected first portion than previously reflected, wherein transmission properties of the unequalized light beam passing through the group of optical devices change, such that an output intensity of a resulting light beam output from the optical devices is equalized.