The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 29, 2000
Filed:
May. 29, 1998
David C Thompson, Los Alamos, NM (US);
George E Busch, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Carl W Wilson, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Thomas J Zaugg, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Charlie E Strauss, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Dennis K Remelius, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Tsutomu Shimada, Los Alamos, NM (US);
The Regents of the University of California, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Abstract
The present invention describes the use of a pair of acoustooptic devices in a laser or other optical resonator to produce a wavelength-dependent deflection of the light without incurring a net frequency shift. This permits rapid electronic tuning of the resonator wavelength, as well as rapid electronic variation of cavity loss, out-coupling fraction, and round-trip phase shift. The dispersive quality of acoustooptic devices in transmission is utilized as a reflection grating substitute. Two mirrors, one an output coupler, a gain medium and two acoustooptic devices arranged for maximum efficiency such that the incident and diffracted beams are approximately at the Bragg angle for each acoustooptic device permit the laser wavelength to be determined by the acoustic frequency.