Abstract:
A discontinuous phase element (86, 204) is disposed between the reflector (20, 23) elements of an optical resonator in order to suppress unwanted modes propagating within the cavity, and to preferentially allow the existence of preferred modes within the cavity. The discontinuous phase element (204) operates by producing sharp changes in the phase distribution of the undesirable modes, so that their propagation losses are sufficiently high prevent their build-up. This is achieved by introducing a discontinuous phase change to these modes at locations where they have high intensity. At the same time, the desired modes suffer 0 or 2&pgr; phase change, or have low intensity at the discontinuity, and so are unaffected by the discontinuous phase element. Such elements can be used in a single element or a double element configuration, and can be used in passive cavities or active cavities, such as lasers. In addition to being able to improve the output beam quality of a laser by encouraging output of the lowest order mode beam, they can also be used to improve the maximum power output of solid state lasers by encouraging the output of specific higher order mode beams, without limiting dynamic range of the laser. They can also be used to compensate for birefringence distortion in the gain medium.
Abstract:
A narrow band F2 laser system useful for integrated circuit lithography. An output beam from a first F2 laser gain medium is filtered with a pre-gain filter to produce a seed beam having a bandwidth of about 0.1 pm or less. The seed beam is amplified in a power gain stage which includes a second F2 laser gain medium. The output beam of the system is a pulsed laser beam with a full width half maximum band width of about 0.1 pm or less with pulse energy in excess of about 5 mJ. In a preferred embodiment the pre-gain filter includes a wavelength monitor which permits feedback control over the centerline wavelength so that the pre-gain filter optics can be adjusted to ensure that the desired bandwidth range is injected into the power gain stage.
Abstract:
An excimer or molecular fluorine laser includes a discharge chamber filled with a gas mixture, multiple electrodes within the discharge chamber connected to a power supply circuit for energizing the gas mixture, and a resonator including the discharge chamber and a pair of resonator reflectors for generating an output laser beam. One of the resonator reflectors is an output coupling interferometer including a pair of opposing reflecting surfaces tuned to produce a reflectivity maximum at a selected wavelength for narrowing a linewidth of the output laser beam. One of the pair of opposing reflecting surfaces is configured such that the opposing reflecting surfaces of the interferometer have a varying optical distance therebetween over an incident beam cross-section which serves to suppress outer portions of the reflectivity maximum to reduce spectral purity. Preferably, this surface is non-planar, and may include a step, a recess or a raised or recessed curved portion of a quarter wavelength in height or depth, respectively.
Abstract:
A laser includes a lasing medium having a slab geometry, a waveguide arrangement either side of the slab, mirrors forming an unstable sub-resonator acting in a plane perpendicular to the waveguide, and a concave mirror arrangement acting on light incident on it launched from the waveguide, and thereby transformed from waveguide light to free space light, to redirect and retransform a portion of said light to be re-entrant waveguide light constituting the unstable sub-resonator round-trip self-replicating light. The unstable sub-resonator preferably includes a folding mirror to direct light towards the concave mirror, and the concave mirror is preferably partially transmissive.
Abstract:
A high-energy laser 10 comprising a ring of lesser-powered laser modules 12,14,16 from each of which an output is taken to be projected so that they all arrive in phase on a distant target. To phase-lock the outputs of all the serial laser modules, the path lengths (l) of the laser modules are made equal, the path length around the large loop which includes all the laser modules is made an integral multiple of the laser-module path length, and at least two different feedback loops are employed.
Abstract:
A new injection-controlled laser resonator incorporates self-filtering and self-imaging characteristics with an efficient injection scheme. A low-divergence laser signal is injected into the resonator, which enables the injection signal to be converted to the desired resonator modes before the main laser pulse starts. This injection technique and resonator design enable the laser cavity to improve the quality of the injection signal through self-filtering before the main laser pulse starts. The self-imaging property of the present resonator reduces the cavity induced diffraction effects and, in turn, improves the laser beam quality.
Abstract:
A laser apparatus with a laser oscillator and a subsequently connected la intensifier which has an inlet region for the laser beam to be intensified coming from the laser oscillator and an outlet for the intensified laser beam and which is provided with a folding mirror that lies opposite to the inlet region for the laser beam to be intensified. The inlet region for the laser beam to be intensified is an opening in a further folding mirror which is located opposite to the other folding mirror. The outlet for the intensified laser beam likewise is an opening in one of the two folding mirrors. The opening width of the inlet opening and the outlet opening in relation to the mirror surface of the particular folding mirror is small. The cross section of the laser beam inside the laser intensifier is at least partially greater by a multiple than in the region of the inlet opening and outlet opening. In a region externally of the laser intensifier before respectively after the respective opening there is arranged a partially permeable respectively reflecting mirror so that the laser intensifier operates as a laser oscillator. The laser oscillator is integrated in the laser intensifier.
Abstract:
A dense, smooth, ductile, hard, highly reflective, corrosion-resistant, temperature resistant, and wear-resistant crystalline alloy of nickel, cobalt and boron. The alloy is epitaxially electrodeposited on an activated substrate using a pulsed square wave current. The epitaxial deposition occurs in an electrolytic bath containing nickel ions, cobalt ions, complexing agents, and an amino borane compound at a moderately low pH level and moderate temperature. An insoluble, solid catalyst, preferably palladium, causes the alloy to diffuse into the surface of the substrate and become bonded by a polar-covalent bond to it. Implements coated with the alloy, as well as plating solutions and methods for making the alloy are also disclosed.
Abstract:
The present invention provides various embodiments of laser systems for generating "chirp" signals. In the broadest sense, a diffraction grating is placed within a laser cavity on the face of a carrier and the motion of the carrier in its own plane causes the laser to chirp. Typically, the diffraction grating is placed in the end-reflector position of the optical path of the resonant cavity associated with the laser. By putting the diffraction grating on the outer peripheral rim of a wheel and rotating the wheel, a sequence of either up-chirp or down-chirp signals can be generated continuously. Similarly, the desired "chirped" signals can be generated by using a diffraction grating oriented radially on the face of a rotating wheel. The system also contemplates the simultaneous generation of both an up-chirp signal of one polarization and a down-chirp signal of an orthogonal polarization by using a pair of lasers and a single wheel carrying the diffraction grating on either its outer peripheral rim or its face disposed in the end-reflector positions of the lasers for simultaneously generating both the up-chirp and down-chirp signals. An optical system including a reflective mirror, a one-half waveplate, and a polarizing beamsplitter are provided at the output of the two laser system for combining the up-chirp signal and down-chirp signal for simultaneous outputting.
Abstract:
A laser 10 is disclosed in which there are incorporated one or more diffractive optical elements (DOE's) 20. The DOE's can be used in place of conventional optics to save costs and allow design of resonators not heretofore possible. The ability to vary the reflectivity of the surface of a DOE in any desired pattern allows unprecedented control of both the intracavity mode as well as the mode of the output beam.