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:
Sep. 02, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 31, 2001
Dirk Basting, Göttingen, DE;
Sergei V. Govorkov, Boca Raton, FL (US);
Lambda Physik AG, Goettingen, DE;
Abstract
A tunable laser is provided having a gain medium and a resonator for generating a laser beam, and an angular dispersion element. The laser further includes a beam expander with adjustable magnification for adjusting an angular dispersion provided by the dispersion element. The adjustable beam expander preferably includes one or two rotatable prisms. When two prisms are used, the prisms are preferably synchronously rotatable according to a preset ratio such that any changes in refraction angle due to the rotation of the first prism are automatically compensated by the rotation of the second prism. A single prism may serve both as a dispersion element and as a beam expansion element. A processor preferably monitors the linewidth and wavelength of the output beam and adjusts an orientation of the prism or prisms of the expansion unit, and the tilt of either a reflection grating or a highly reflective mirror of the resonator in a feedback loop.