Patent ID: 8537452

Claim:
An apparatus for producing an optical beam having spectrum at a plurality of optical frequencies, comprising: a first input optical seed beam connected to a first optical combiner, a broadband optical signal output of the first optical combiner connected to a first add-drop multiplexer that can efficiently combine it with a first narrow-band pump beam, a first nonlinear optical device receiving a first input optical beam from the first add-drop multiplexer, the first nonlinear optical device being connected to a second nonlinear optical device; a first filter that selects a first generated conjugate signal from the first nonlinear device, the first filter being connected to a second add-drop multiplexer that combines the first generated conjugate signal with a second narrow band optical pump; a combined signal from the second add-drop multiplexer being connected to a second nonlinear optical device which generates a second conjugate signal, an output of the second nonlinear optical device being connected to a second filter that selects the second generated conjugate signal, the second generated conjugate signal being connected to the first optical combiner thereby being recirculated to act as a second input optical beam to the first nonlinear device; and one or more output ports connected to at least one of the optical devices in the recirculating optical path so that a recirculating optical spectrum at a plurality of optical frequencies can be accessed as a final output beam.