Tunable Supercontinuum Generator (Market Study)

超连续光源将激光的特性与白炽灯泡的宽带宽相结合，为医学成像、通信、显示和材料研究等大量应用奠定了基础。在过去的十年中，该领域的研究和发展一直受到技术进步和不断变化的市场需求的推动。从科学的角度来看，超连续介质激光器制造商已经开始了解该技术的界限和局限性，而市场则要求为特定应用量身定制性能，以使超连续介质激光器适合主流工业应用。目前的建议是关于一个可调谐的超连续谱发生器系统的市场研究，该系统允许在选定的波长上优化超连续谱的光谱强度。与具有相同功率预算的单脉冲激励相比，使用多脉冲方案的技术可以实现目标光谱密度的7倍增加。该方法实际上是基于cmos兼容的集成脉冲分配器，用于产生定制的脉冲序列，并由脉冲激光源、掺铒光纤放大器和高度非线性光纤播种，以形成超连续体。利用遗传算法的反馈回路优化种子脉冲序列，并通过迭代修改时间脉冲分配器的分裂比来定制超连续输出。本发明代表了一种通过控制光学腔内的非线性过程来产生自定义超连续谱的高效方法。此外，它代表了一种可靠的方法，能够降低现有超连续光源的成本/瓦比。最后，该技术的多功能性允许它集成到已经存在的系统中。因此，我们坚信，对这项创新技术进行市场研究是非常及时的，并将有助于加强加拿大高科技工业在国际舞台上的影响。

Supercontinuum light sources, combining the properties of a laser with the broad bandwidth of an incandescent light bulb, form the foundation of a large number of applications ranging from medical imaging, communications, displays and material studies. Over the last decade, research and development in the field has been driven by both technological advances and ever-evolving market requirements. From a scientific standpoint, supercontinuum laser manufacturers have been driven to understand the boundaries and limitations of the technology, whereas the market has required to tailor performance for specific applications in a way to make supercontinuum lasers suitable for mainstream industrial applications.The current proposal is concerned with a market study related to a tunable supercontinuum generator system allowing for the optimization of the supercontinuum spectral intensity at a selected wavelength. The technique using a multiple pulse scheme can achieve a seven-fold increase of a targeted spectral density compared to a single pulse excitation with the same power budget.The approach is actually based on a CMOS-compatible integrated pulse splitter used to generate a custom train of pulses and seeded by a pulsed laser source, an erbium doped fiber amplifier, and a highly non-linear fiber to form the supercontinuum. A feedback loop making use of a genetic algorithm is used to optimize the seed pulse train and to tailor the supercontinuum output by iteratively modifying the splitting ratio of the temporal pulse splitter. This invention represents a highly efficient way to generate a custom supercontinuum spectrum by controlling the nonlinear processes within an optical cavity. Furthermore, it represents a reliable method capable to reduce the ratio cost/watt of already existing supercontinuum light sources. Finally, the versatility of the technique allows it to be integrated in already existing systems. Hence, we strongly believe that a market study for this innovative technology is extremely timely and will contribute to reinforce the impact of high-technology Canadian industry on the international scene.