Patent ID: 8248690

Claim:
A system comprising: a non-mode-locked source laser generating output pulses, said non-mode-locked source comprising a cw laser diode and a lithium niobate electro-optic modulator disposed at an output of said cw laser diode, wherein said cw laser diode is selectively gated on to generate optical pulses at a repetition rate in the KHz to MHz regime, said modulator receiving said optical pulses and generating modulated output pulses; a fiber with positive group-velocity dispersion (GVD) and capable of imparting self-phase modulation to an output of said non-mode-locked source, and producing output pulses compressible to pulse widths of about 10 ps or less; and a pump source for pumping said non-mode locked source, wherein at least a portion of said pump source comprises an electrical pulse generator configured to selectively gate said laser diode.