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US 12,422,600 B1Granted
Laser beam extraction using distributed bragg reflector (DBR) mirror systems with a piezoelectric layer
AssigneeBlue Laser Fusion, Inc.
InventorsSrinivas Gandrothula, Shuji Nakamura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an example, the present invention provides a laser system. The laser system has a source laser (e.g., CBC) coupled to first mirror device opposing a second mirror device and configured to generate a resonating laser beam between the first mirror and the second mirror. In an example, the system has a piezoelectric device configured to the second mirror device and characterized by a refractive e index such that one or more voids is changed by applying an energy to the piezo electric device to cause a change in a value of the refractive index, e.g., by more than 0.0001, to allow the resonating laser beam or a portion of the resonating laser to traverse through a portion of the second mirror device.
Claims25
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein at a wavelength of a laser emission of the laser beam, the DBR has an initial reflectivity of more than 99% that is changed to a reflectivity of 30% and less.
4 more elements
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein the piezoelectric layer is selected from the group consisting of lithium niobate (LiNbO3), lithium tantalate (LiTaO3), quartz (SiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), aluminum nitride (AlN), GaAs, and gallium nitride (GaN).
4 more elements
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein the DBR includes a reflectivity spectrum that is modified by shifting the reflectivity spectrum near an edge of a reflectivity stop band from a high reflectivity of more than 99% to a low reflectivity of less than 30% by shifting the wavelength of 2 nm to 20 nm at a wavelength of a laser emission.
4 more elements
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein the piezoelectric layer comprises a plurality of interdigital transducers (IDTs) formed on the piezoelectric layer, each of the plurality of IDTs characterized by a plurality of comb-like structures comprising a conductive material and coupled to an RF signal to generate one or more acoustic waves.
4 more elements
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein the stacked layers include a dielectric material selected from the group consisting of silicon dioxide (SiO2), titanium dioxide (TiO2), tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), and hafnium oxide (HfO2).
4 more elements
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein the stacked layers include a semiconductor material selected from the group consisting of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and an alloy of gallium, aluminum, and arsenic (AlxGa1-xAs) (1≥x>0).
4 more elements
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein the stacked layers include a semiconductor material comprising voids and is selected from the group consisting of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and an alloy of gallium, aluminum, and arsenic (AlxGa1-xAs) (1≥x>0).
4 more elements
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein the stacked layers include a semiconductor material comprising voids and comprises a gallium nitride (GaN).
4 more elements
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein the DBR is composed of multi-layer pairs of a dielectric material group or a semiconductor layer group.
4 more elements
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein the voids in a piezoelectric layer are characterized by one or more arbitrary shapes with an inner surface being a combination of more than one crystalline plane.
4 more elements
A Variable Reflectance Distributed Bragg Reflector (VR-DBR) mirror device comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a plurality of stacked layers of materials with at least two different refractive indices to form a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) overlying the transparent substrate:
- a piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of voids configured with a single or the plurality of stacked layers such that the piezoelectric layer is configured to the DBR;
- at least one electrical contact coupled to the piezoelectric layer containing the voids, the electrical contact characterized by a conductive material;
- and
- a electric energy coupled to the electrical contact and configured to supply an electric field in the piezoelectric layer containing the voids to alter a refractive index of the piezoelectric layer and change a reflection spectrum of the DBR to allow a laser beam to traverse through a portion of the DBR;
- wherein the voids of the piezoelectric layer reduce a refractive index of one or more bulk piezoelectric materials such that the electric energy causes a response of the voids to induce a refractive index change between 0.0001 to 0.05.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.