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US 11,881,676 B2Granted
End-pumped Q-switched laser
AssigneeL3Harris Technologies, Inc.
InventorsJeffrey A. Myers, Baoping Guo, Edward Miesak
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A laser system may include one or more of the following components: a power supply, a continuous wave pump laser, a fiber optic cable, a positive lens, a gain medium, a heat sink, and/or a Q-switch. The laser system may be used in a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system such as a scanning LIDAR system. The laser system may be designed to operate at wavelengths that may be safe for human eyes.
Claims11
A laser system comprising:
- a power supply;
- a pump laser configured to receive power from the power supply and configured to act as a pulsed source to generate a first laser beam at a first frequency;
- a gain medium comprising an input surface, an output surface, a first external surface, and a second external surface, wherein the input surface is configured to receive the first laser beam, and wherein the gain medium is configured to generate a second laser beam and to emit the second laser beam via the output surface;
- a fiber optic cable disposed between the pump laser and the gain medium, wherein the fiber optic cable homogenizes the first laser beam received from the pump laser;
- a positive lens disposed between the fiber optic cable and the gain medium, wherein the positive lens comprises an output lens surface, wherein the positive lens is configured to focus the homogenized first laser beam received from the fiber optic cable, is configured to transmit the focused homogenized first laser beam to the gain medium, is configured to shape the second laser beam in accordance with a cavity, and is configured to reflect the shaped second laser beam to the gain medium;
- a Q-switch coupled to the output surface and configured to receive the second laser beam from the gain medium;
- a first heat sink coupled to the first external surface of the gain medium, the output lens surface, and the Q-switch;
- and
- a second heat sink coupled to the second external surface of the gain medium, the output lens surface, and the Q-switch.
6 more elements
A laser head, the laser head comprising:
- a gain medium comprising an input surface, an output surface, a first external surface, and a second external surface, wherein the input surface is configured to receive a first laser beam, and wherein the gain medium is configured to generate a second laser beam and to emit the second laser beam via the output surface;
- a fiber optic cable, wherein the fiber optic cable homogenizes the first laser beam;
- a positive lens, wherein the positive lens comprises an output lens surface, wherein the positive lens is configured to focus the homogenized first laser beam, is configured to transmit the focused homogenized first laser beam to the gain medium, is configured to shape the second laser beam in accordance with a cavity, and is configured to reflect the shaped second laser beam to the gain medium;
- a Q-switch coupled to the output surface and configured to receive the second laser beam from the gain medium;
- a first heat sink coupled to the first external surface of the gain medium, the output lens surface, and the Q-switch;
- a second heat sink coupled to the second external surface of the gain medium, the output lens surface, and the Q-switch.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.