Abstract:
The invention offers a regenerative optical amplifier enabling voltage to be easily applied to polarizing elements such as Pockels cells, without the need for complicated drive circuitry. An input beam of S-polarized light is reflected by a polarizer 1 and advances to a Pockels cell 2. In the time it takes for the input beam, having once passed through the Pockels cell 2, to be reflected by a reflective mirror 3 and return to the Pockels cell 2, a voltage VP1 causing a 90-degree rotation in the polarization of transmitted light is applied to the Pockels cell 2, and this applied voltage VP1 is maintained. The input beam is converted by the Pockels cell 2 into a P-polarized light pulse which is transmitted by the polarizer. Subsequently, the light pulse is converted from P-polarized light to S-polarized light and back to P-polarized light with each roundtrip of the Pockels cell 2, while passing each time between the reflective mirror 3, laser crystal 4 and reflective mirror 7, so as to be amplified in the resonator formed thereby. The amplified light pulse is extracted by applying a voltage VP2 causing a 90-degree rotation of the polarization of the transmitted light to the Pockels cell 6 to convert the light pulse to S-polarized light which is then reflected out of the resonator by the polarizer 5.
Abstract:
The present invention offers a laser oscillator device having sufficient cooling ability to maintain a lasing medium which generates high-density thermal energy at a temperature appropriate for use, while being capable of being made compact. The laser oscillator device comprises an excitation beam source for generating an excitation beam, a laser medium for receiving the excitation beam and performing optical amplification, a laser oscillator device for causing resonance of light emitted by the laser medium for laser oscillation, and a cooling system for cooling said laser medium, wherein the cooling system uses a gas as the heat-carrying medium.
Abstract:
The present invention has the object of offering a laser resonator capable of maintaining high amplification efficiency even if the thermal lensing effect occurring in the laser medium varies during operation or over repeated operation and suspension of the laser device. The laser resonator comprises at least a pair of reflection portions (planar reflective mirrors 3) provided such as to allow a laser beam to oscillate therebetween; a laser medium provided on the optical path of the laser between the pair of reflection portions; an excitation portion (excitation laser device 5) for exciting the laser medium; an optical system (convex lens 1) provided on the optical path of the laser beam between the laser medium and the pair of reflection portions for changing the state of the laser in the laser medium; and a movement portion for moving the optical system along the optical axis of the laser.
Abstract:
The invention offers a low-noise, compact, high-efficiency light generating device and an irradiation method thereof for use in medical applications. A fundamental harmonic laser head 106 is composed of a quasi-continuous wave oscillation mode laser diode (QCW-LD) 101, a laser crystal 103, a rear mirror 104 and an output mirror 105. The QCW-LD 101 is driven by an LD power source 102 capable of modulating the pulse waveform in time. A beam adjusting portion 108 comprises a wave plate, a polarizer, a lens and an isolator. A wavelength converting portion 112 is an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) comprising a non-linear optical crystal 109, an OPO input mirror and an OPO output mirror 111.