Patent ID: 8897654

Claim:
A system for generating a frequency modulated laser waveform, the system comprising: a laser capable of producing a laser output signal having a single frequency and a linewidth centered at ω o ; an electro-optical modulator coupled to the laser and configured for receiving the laser output signal from the laser; an electric ramp generator comprising a voltage controlled oscillator controlled by a digital micro-controller that is capable of generating a linear ramp, wherein the electric ramp generator is coupled to the electro-optical modulator and capable of generating a ramp having a frequency chirp with a bandwidth B over a time period T, and a modulation offset frequency ω m for controlling the electro-optical modulator to modulate the laser output signal to define a modulated waveform, wherein the linear ramp includes a deviation less than or equal to 71 Khz; and a band-pass optical filter coupled to the electro-optical modulator and capable of receiving the modulated waveform and for filtering out harmonic frequencies created by the electro-optical modulator during modulation of the laser output signal; wherein the band-pass optical filter includes a bandwidth BW greater than the modulation bandwidth B and less than the modulation offset frequency ω m , and is centered at the frequency of the laser output signal ω o plus the modulation offset frequency ω m ; and wherein the modulation offset frequency ω m of the linear ramp is between the range of 5.0 GHz and 30 GHz, and the bandwidth B of the linear ramp is between the range of 300 MHz and 3.0 GHz over a time period T between the range of 0.01 msec and 0.20 msec.