Abstract

Frequency comb swept lasers or wavelength stepped swept lasers with comb filters have been proposed in optical domain subsampling or circular-ranging optical coherence tomography (OCT) to achieve high axial scan rate and extended imaging range with a given acquisition bandwidth. However, the comb filters lack flexibility in varying the free spectral range (FSR). In this article, we propose and demonstrate a novel discrete Fourier domain mode locked (FDML) laser by using intracavity optical intensity modulation. Swept signals with comb lines uniformly distributed in the frequency domain is generated with tailor-made pulse patterns according to the sweep trace of the swept filter. Discrete k-space uniform swept signals with different FSRs and pulse durations are generated in the same laser. The FDML laser discretized by temporal modulation is more stable than that with a comb filter. The discrete FDML lasers will be potential sources of OCT and the fast-developing swept source LiDAR.

Time and Fourier domain jointly mode locked frequency comb swept fiber laser

Minggui Wan, Feng Li, Xinhuan Feng, Xudong Wang, Yuan Cao, Bai-ou Guan, Dongmei Huang, Jinhui Yuan, and P. K. A. Wai
Opt. Express 25(26) 32705-32712 (2017)

K-space linear Fourier domain mode locked laser and applications for optical coherence tomography

Christoph M. Eigenwillig, Benjamin R. Biedermann, Gesa Palte, and Robert Huber
Opt. Express 16(12) 8916-8937 (2008)

Frequency comb swept lasers

Tsung-Han Tsai, Chao Zhou, Desmond C. Adler, and James G. Fujimoto
Opt. Express 17(23) 21257-21270 (2009)

Buffered Fourier domain mode locking: unidirectional swept laser sources for optical coherence tomography imaging at 370,000 lines/s

Robert Huber, Desmond C. Adler, and James G. Fujimoto
Opt. Lett. 31(20) 2975-2977 (2006)

Fourier Domain Mode Locking (FDML): A new laser operating regime and applications for optical coherence tomography

R. Huber, M. Wojtkowski, and J. G. Fujimoto
Opt. Express 14(8) 3225-3237 (2006)