End pumped zig-zag slab laser gain medium
    1.
    发明授权
    End pumped zig-zag slab laser gain medium 有权
    末端抽取锯齿状平板激光增益介质

    公开(公告)号:US06268956B1

    公开(公告)日:2001-07-31

    申请号:US09580726

    申请日:2000-05-30

    IPC分类号: H01S300

    摘要: An optical amplifier (20, 100) includes an elongated slab (22, 102) of solid state lapsing material, such as a rare earth doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG) slab. In order to provide a relatively increased absorption length and thus a higher overall efficiency, the optical amplifier (20, 100) in accordance with the present invention incorporates end pumping in which the pumped light is coaligned with the amplified light resulting in relatively longer absorption lengths and higher overall efficiencies. The coaligned pumped sources are directed to lateral faces of the slab (22, 102) which include footprints (41, 43, 108) or windows. In order to cause internal reflection of the pump beam along the lapsing axis, the end faces (28, 30, 110) are formed at about a 45° angle relative to the longitudinal axis which causes the pumped light to be reflected within the slab co-axially with amplified light. In order to confine the absorption of the pumped light to the center portion of the slab (22, 102), the slab (22, 102) may be formed from a composite material with the opposing end portions of the slab formed from an undoped host material while the center portion of the slab along the longitudinal axis is formed from a doped host material. Such a configuration provides relatively low residual thermal lensing with virtually no birefringence. In one embodiment, the pumping light from the diode arrays is coupled to the slab (22, 102) by way of lenses (54) or lens ducts (FIG. 1). In an alternate embodiment, the pumping light is coupled to the slab (22, 102) by way of optical fibers (104, 106). In yet another embodiment (FIG. 8), the pumping light and laser beams are interchanged forming a low-loss straight through slab with end pumped architecture.

    摘要翻译: 光学放大器(20,100)包括固态收缩材料的细长板(22,102),例如稀土掺杂的钇 - 铝 - 石榴石(YAG)板。 为了提供相对增加的吸收长度并因此提供更高的总体效率,根据本发明的光放大器(20,100)包括端泵浦,其中泵浦的光与放大的光轴相结合,导致相对更长的吸收长度 并提高整体效率。 联合泵送源被引导到板坯(22,102)的侧面,其包括脚印(41,43,108)或窗口。 为了引起泵浦光束沿着折叠轴的内部反射,端面(28,30,110)相对于纵向轴线以大约45°的角度形成,这导致泵送的光在板坯co 用放大的光轴。 为了将抽吸光的吸收限制在板坯(22,102)的中心部分,板坯(22,102)可以由复合材料形成,其中板坯的相对端部由未掺杂的主体 而沿着纵向轴线的板坯的中心部分由掺杂的主体材料形成。 这种构造提供了相对较低的剩余热透镜,实际上没有双折射。 在一个实施例中,来自二极管阵列的泵浦光通过透镜(54)或透镜导管(图1)耦合到板坯(22,102)。 在替代实施例中,泵浦光通过光纤(104,106)耦合到板坯(22,102)。 在另一个实施例(图8)中,泵浦光和激光束互换形成具有末端泵浦结构的低损耗直通板。

    Laser with two orthogonal zig-zag slab gain media for optical phase distortion compensation
    2.
    发明授权
    Laser with two orthogonal zig-zag slab gain media for optical phase distortion compensation 失效
    激光器具有两个正交的Z形板式增益介质,用于光学相位失真补偿

    公开(公告)号:US06178040B1

    公开(公告)日:2001-01-23

    申请号:US09104477

    申请日:1998-06-25

    IPC分类号: H01S300

    摘要: An optical amplifier for use with a solid state laser which includes a pair of elongated slabs of a solid state lasing material, such as a rare earth doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG) crystal. Two embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In both embodiments of the invention, each of the elongated slabs is formed with a square or generally rectangular cross-section. The slabs are configured such that the longitudinal axes of the slabs are generally co-axial aligned and the slabs are orientated such that the major axis of the slabs are generally orthogonal. By configuring the two slabs to be orthogonal with respect to one another, the integrated thermal lens becomes azimuthally symmetric and can be compensated by a simple external lens. In addition, the negative lensing affect along the major axis of one slab is used to compensate for the positive lensing affect along the minor axis of the other slab and vice versa, thus minimizing the affects of the astigmatism. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, a dove prism is used to rotate the beam instead of rotation of the slabs.

    摘要翻译: 一种用于固态激光器的光放大器,其包括一对固体激光材料的细长板,例如稀土掺杂的钇铝石榴石(YAG)晶体。 公开了本发明的两个实施例。 在本发明的两个实施例中,每个细长板形成有方形或大致矩形的横截面。 板坯构造成使得板坯的纵向轴线大体上同轴对齐,并且板坯被定向成使得板坯的长轴线大致正交。 通过将这两个平板相互配合,集成的热透镜变为方位角对称的,并且可以通过简单的外部透镜进行补偿。 此外,沿着一个板坯的长轴的负透镜影响用于补偿沿着另一个板坯的短轴的正透镜影响,反之亦然,从而最小化散光的影响。 在本发明的替代实施例中,使用鸽子棱镜来旋转梁而不是板的旋转。

    Optically controllable cooled saturable absorber Q-switch slab
    3.
    发明授权
    Optically controllable cooled saturable absorber Q-switch slab 有权
    光控冷却饱和吸收器Q开关板

    公开(公告)号:US5991315A

    公开(公告)日:1999-11-23

    申请号:US146892

    申请日:1998-09-03

    IPC分类号: H01S3/113

    CPC分类号: H01S3/113

    摘要: A solid state saturable absorber (SSSA) is formed from a slab of solid state material, such as Cr.sup.4+ : YAG. Optical distortion caused by the absorption process can be minimized by confining absorption to portions of the solid state slab which can be cooled efficiently. In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, the use of the SSSA in accordance with the present invention allows the repetition rate, pulse width, and energy level of the laser output pulses to be controlled by way of optical pump sources, such as a diode array. The solid state slab material allows for zig-zag propagation and thus, averaging of the thermal gradients caused by absorption, optical pumping and cooling which results in relatively low thermal lensing with virtually no birefringence and therefore allows for passive Q-switching applications in relatively high brightness laser systems. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, a plurality of thin cells are stacked and immersed in an indexed matched cooling fluid in order to increase the absorption length while minimizing optical distortion.

    摘要翻译: 固态饱和吸收体(SSSA)由诸如Cr4 +:YAG的固态材料板形成。 通过将吸收限制在可以有效冷却的固态板坯的部分上,可以最小化吸收过程引起的光学变形。 根据本发明的一个重要方面,根据本发明的SSSA的使用允许激光输出脉冲的重复频率,脉冲宽度和能量水平通过光泵来控制,诸如 二极管阵列。 固态板材允许锯齿形传播,从而平均由吸收,光泵浦和冷却引起的热梯度,这导致相当低的热透镜,实际上没有双折射,因此允许在相对较高的无源Q开关应用 亮度激光系统。 在本发明的替代实施例中,多个薄电池被堆叠并浸入索引的匹配冷却流体中,以便增加吸收长度同时最小化光学失真。

    Liquid laser with colloidal suspension of lasant nanoparticles
    4.
    发明申请
    Liquid laser with colloidal suspension of lasant nanoparticles 审中-公开
    液体激光与惰性纳米粒子的胶体悬浮液

    公开(公告)号:US20070189351A1

    公开(公告)日:2007-08-16

    申请号:US11354662

    申请日:2006-02-15

    IPC分类号: H01S3/20 H01S3/093

    摘要: A laser utilizing a liquid based lasing medium, comprising a colloidal suspension of selected solid state lasant nanoparticles in a selected liquid. Use of sufficiently small lasant nanoparticles allows relaxation of the requirement to match the refractive indices of the lasant and the liquid because the nanoparticles have a desirably low scattering loss even when the refractive indices are not perfectly matched. Therefore, higher laser powers are achievable without unwanted thermally induced birefringence and depolarization.

    摘要翻译: 一种使用基于液体的激光介质的激光,其包括在所选择的液体中的选定的固态惰性纳米颗粒的胶体悬浮液。 使用足够小的惰性纳米粒子允许放松匹配奶油和液体的折射率的要求,因为即使当折射率不完全匹配时,纳米颗粒具有期望的低散射损失。 因此,可以实现更高的激光功率,而无需不需要的热诱导双折射和去极化。

    Robust seeding technique for single mode laser oscillation
    5.
    发明授权
    Robust seeding technique for single mode laser oscillation 有权
    用于单模激光振荡的鲁棒播种技术

    公开(公告)号:US07099356B2

    公开(公告)日:2006-08-29

    申请号:US10440600

    申请日:2003-05-19

    IPC分类号: H01S3/098

    CPC分类号: H01S3/10092

    摘要: A method is provided for seeding laser system (10) for single longitudinal mode oscillation. The method includes coupling laser system (10) to be seeded for single mode output to a seed laser radiation source (12). Next, the frequency capture range (44) and spacing (46) of the axial modes (42) of the cavity (24) of the laser system (10) are determined. A seed spectrum (36) is then generated from the seed laser radiation source (12) with a bandwidth (40) corresponding to the axial mode spacing (46). The seed spectrum (36) includes a comb of discrete frequency components (38) with one or more of the discrete frequency components (38) being within the frequency capture range (44) of at least one of the axial modes (42). The seed spectrum (36) is then injected into the cavity (24) such that at least one of the axial modes (42) oscillates with the seed radiation.

    摘要翻译: 提供一种用于种子激光系统(10)用于单纵模振荡的方法。 该方法包括将要种子化的激光系统(10)耦合到单模输出到种子激光辐射源(12)。 接下来,确定激光系统(10)的空腔(24)的轴向模式(42)的频率捕获范围(44)和间隔(46)。 然后从具有对应于轴向模式间隔(46)的带宽(40)从种子激光辐射源(12)产生种子谱(36)。 种子谱(36)包括离散频率分量(38)的梳齿,其中一个或多个离散频率分量(38)在至少一个轴向模式(42)的频率捕获范围(44)内。 然后将种子光谱(36)注入到空腔(24)中,使得轴向模式(42)中的至少一个与种子辐射振荡。

    Multimode raman waveguide amplifier
    6.
    发明申请
    Multimode raman waveguide amplifier 审中-公开
    多模拉曼波导放大器

    公开(公告)号:US20080170289A1

    公开(公告)日:2008-07-17

    申请号:US11653818

    申请日:2007-01-16

    IPC分类号: H01S3/30

    摘要: A Raman waveguide amplifier includes a waveguide comprising a core of a Raman-active medium dimensioned and configured as a self-imaging multimode waveguide. At least one input signal is coupled into the core at a wavelength within a Raman gain spectrum of the Raman-active medium relative to at least one pump beam. The pump beam is coupled into the core so as to amplify the at least one input signal via stimulated Raman scattering to provide an output signal corresponding to an amplified replica of the at least one input signal.

    摘要翻译: 拉曼波导放大器包括波导,其包括尺寸为并且被配置为自成像多模波导的拉曼有源介质的核心。 至少一个输入信号以相对于至少一个泵浦光束的拉曼活性介质的拉曼增益光谱内的波长耦合到芯中。 泵浦光束耦合到核心中,以便通过受激拉曼散射放大至少一个输入信号,以提供对应于至少一个输入信号的放大副本的输出信号。

    Electrically controlled uniform or graded reflectivity electro-optic mirror
    7.
    发明授权
    Electrically controlled uniform or graded reflectivity electro-optic mirror 有权
    电子控制均匀或梯度反射电光镜

    公开(公告)号:US07173956B2

    公开(公告)日:2007-02-06

    申请号:US10365155

    申请日:2003-02-12

    IPC分类号: H01S3/08

    摘要: An electrically controlled variable reflectance mirror that includes a Pockels cell which enables its retardation or birefringence to be controlled in order to vary the light outcoupled from a laser cavity. Since the retardation is a function of the voltage applied to the Pockels cell, the voltage can be used to control the fraction of the output beam that is outcoupled from the laser cavity. The Pockels cell is formed with a constant reflectivity profile to form an electrically controlled uniform reflectivity electro-optic mirror. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the Pockels cell is configured with spatially varying retardation to form an electrically controlled graded reflectivity electro-optic mirror. Both embodiments of the invention enable a lasing system, such as a solid state lasing system, to be operated over a relatively wide range of operating parameters utilizing a single set of optics.

    摘要翻译: 一种电控可变反射镜,其包括能够控制延迟或双折射的Pockels电池,以便改变与激光腔耦合的光。 由于延迟是施加到普克尔电池的电压的函数,所以可以使用电压来控制从激光腔输出的输出光束的分数。 普克尔斯单元形成具有恒定的反射率分布,以形成电控制的均匀反射电光镜。 在本发明的替代实施例中,Pockels单元被配置为具有空间变化的延迟以形成电控分级反射电光镜。 本发明的两个实施例使得诸如固态激光系统之类的激光系统能够使用单组光学器件在相对较宽范围的操作参数下操作。

    Three-level laser system
    9.
    发明授权
    Three-level laser system 失效
    三级激光系统

    公开(公告)号:US5841805A

    公开(公告)日:1998-11-24

    申请号:US783646

    申请日:1997-01-14

    摘要: The present invention provides a solid state laser gain medium 28 comprising: (a) a gain layer 30 having pump regions 32 and first and second contact regions 34 and 36, respectively; (b) a first transparent layer 38 optically connected to the first contact region 34 of the gain layer 30 by diffusion bonding; and (c) a second transparent layer 40 optically connected to the second contact region 36 of the gain layer 30 by diffusion bonding. The transparent layers 38 and 40 are transparent to the lasing wavelength of the gain medium 28. The present invention also provides an apparatus for amplifying laser light, comprising: (a) a solid state, slab geometry gain medium 44 having lateral pump faces 46 and a principal radiation absorption axis C; and (b) an excitation mechanism 48 located along the pump faces 46 of the gain medium 44 for generating polarized light along a polarization axis 52 wherein the polarization axis 52 is parallel with the principal absorption axis C of the gain medium 44 to provide increased radiation absorption. The present invention also provides a cooling system 58 for a solid state gain medium 60 generating laser output laser emission at a wavelength from about 2 .mu.m to about 3 .mu.m. The cooling system 58 including a coolant material such as D2O for reducing absorption of laser emissions by the coolant at wavelengths from about 2 .mu.m to about 3 .mu.m.

    摘要翻译: 本发明提供了一种固态激光增益介质28,其包括:(a)分别具有泵浦区域32和第一和第二接触区域34和36的增益层30; (b)通过扩散接合与增益层30的第一接触区域34光学连接的第一透明层38; 和(c)通过扩散接合与增益层30的第二接触区域36光学连接的第二透明层40。 透明层38和40对于增益介质28的激光波长是透明的。本发明还提供了一种用于放大激光的设备,包括:(a)固态板坯几何增益介质44,其具有侧向泵面46和 主辐射吸收轴C; 和(b)沿着增益介质44的泵面46定位的激励机构48,用于沿着偏振轴52产生偏振光,其中偏振轴52与增益介质44的主吸收轴C平行,以提供增加的辐射 吸收。 本发明还提供了一种用于固态增益介质60的冷却系统58,其产生波长为约2μm至约3μm的激光输出激光发射。 冷却系统58包括诸如D 2 O的冷却剂材料,用于减少冷却剂在约2μm至约3μm波长处的激光发射的吸收。

    Birefringence compensated laser architecture
    10.
    发明授权
    Birefringence compensated laser architecture 失效
    双折射补偿激光器架构

    公开(公告)号:US5640406A

    公开(公告)日:1997-06-17

    申请号:US415880

    申请日:1995-04-03

    摘要: Apparatus, and a related method, for compensating for birefringence introduced in a birefringent medium, such as a solid-state amplifier. The invention includes the combination of a quarter-wave plate, a Faraday rotator and a mirror, which may be a phase conjugation cell. Light passing through the quarter-wave plate is substantially circularly polarized, which is advantageous if the mirror is a phase conjugation cell using stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). A second pass through the quarter-wave plate provides a linearly polarized beam of which the polarization angle is orthogonally related to that of the original beam, to facilitate out-coupling of energy from the apparatus. The Faraday rotator effects a total polarization angle rotation of 90.degree. in two passes and helps compensate for birefringence when the beam is passed through the birefringent medium again on the return pass. The combination of the quarter-wave plate and the Faraday rotator provides better birefringence cancellation than either element acting alone.

    摘要翻译: 用于补偿在双折射介质(例如固态放大器)中引入的双折射的装置和相关方法。 本发明包括四分之一波片,法拉第旋转器和反射镜的组合,其可以是相位共轭单元。 通过四分之一波片的光基本上是圆偏振的,如果反射镜是使用受激布里渊散射(SBS)的相位共轭单元,这是有利的。 通过四分之一波片的第二次通过提供线性偏振光束,其偏振角与原始光束正交相关,以促进来自该装置的能量的外耦合。 法拉第旋转器在两次通过中实现90°的总偏振角旋转,并且当光束在返回通道上再次通过双折射介质时有助于补偿双折射。 四分之一波片和法拉第旋转器的组合提供比单独作用的任一元件更好的双折射消除。