DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
3. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wise et al. (US 20190305516).
Regarding claim 9, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification:
9. A mode-lockable ring oscillator comprising:
a gain element (see, Gain Fiber 1, fig. 5, see also, paragraph [0050]) that, when optically pumped (see, 976 nm Pump, fig. 5), amplifies an optical pulse into an amplified pulse;
a gain-stage nonlinear optical element (see, paragraph [0050] ) configured to spectrally broaden the amplified pulse into a first spectrally-broadened pulse;
a first optical filter (see, Filter 2, fig. 5) coupled to an output of the gain-stage nonlinear optical element, the first optical filter being configured to spectrally filter the first spectrally- broadened pulse into a first filtered pulse, the first optical filter having a first passband;
a passive nonlinear optical element (see, paragraph [0050], here, passive SMF) coupled to an output of the first optical filter, the passive nonlinear optical element being configured to spectrally broaden the first filtered pulse into a second spectrally-broadened pulse; and
a second optical filter (see, Gain Fiber 2, fig. 5) coupled to an output of the passive nonlinear optical element, the second optical filter being configured to filter the second spectrally-broadened pulse into a second filtered pulse, the second optical filter having a second passband that partially overlaps the first passband;
wherein (i) an output of the second optical filter is coupled to an input of the gain element such that the gain element, gain-stage nonlinear optical element, first filter, passive nonlinear optical element, and second filter form a ring cavity and (ii) the mode-lockable ring oscillator is configured to initiate single-pulse mode-locking (see, paragraph [0043]).
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Regarding claim 10, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 9, the gain-stage nonlinear optical element being configured such that a spectrum of the first spectrally-broadened pulse exceeds a bandwidth of an emission cross-section of the gain element (see, paragraph [0056]).
Regarding claim 11, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 9, the gain element and the gain-stage nonlinear optical element comprising the same optical element (see, paragraph [0050]).
Regarding claim 12, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 11, the same optical element comprising a doped optical fiber (see, paragraph [0050]).
Regarding claim 13, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 12, the doped optical fiber being polarization- maintaining (see, paragraph [0045]).
Regarding claim 14, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 12, the doped optical fiber comprising a large- mode-area optical fiber, a photonic-crystal fiber, or a microstructure fiber, or a combination thereof (see, paragraph [0041]).
Regarding claim 15, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 9, configured to amplify the optical pulse in the gain element with gain-managed nonlinearity(see, paragraph [0041]).
Regarding claim 16, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 9, the passive nonlinear optical element comprising a passive optical fiber(see, paragraph [0050]).
Regarding claim 17, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 16, the passive optical fiber being polarization-maintaining (see, paragraph [0045]).
Regarding claim 18, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 9, the first filter comprising a rejection port from which spectral components rejected by the first filter are coupled out of the ring cavity (see, paragraph [0050]).
Regarding claim 19, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 12, consisting of only polarization- maintaining fiber-optic-based components (see, paragraph [0045]).
Regarding claim 20, Wise et al. discloses in figure 5 and specification a method comprising: pumping the gain element of the mode-lockable ring oscillator of claim 9 with pump light; modulating the pump light during said pumping to initiate single-pulse mode-locking of the mode-lockable ring oscillator, wherein the second passband of the second optical filter partially overlaps the first passband of the first filter when the single- pulse mode-locking is initiated; and stopping said modulating after the mode-lockable ring oscillator has initiated single-pulse mode-locking. (see, paragraph [0050])
Regarding claims 1-8, method claims 1-8 are rejected for the same reasons applied to device claims 9-20 since the limitations of method claims 1-8 are implemented by the limitations of devices claims 9-20.
Conclusion
4. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kinam Park whose telephone number is (571) 270-1738. The examiner can normally be reached on from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, MINSUN HARVEY, can be reached on (571) 272-1835. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/KINAM PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
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