Laser system and method for beam enhancement

A laser comprising:

• a set of one more sections of lasing media;
• a resonant cavity comprising a set of one or more discharge spaces and first and second mirrors, the first and second mirrors being disposed toward opposing ends of the set of discharge spaces and forming a stable resonator with respect to a first axis and an unstable resonator with respect to a second axis transverse to the first axis, at least a portion of the lasing medium being within the set of discharge spaces;
• and
• a first set of one or more electrodes paired with a second set of one or more electrodes, each pair of electrodes from the first and second sets of electrodes being on opposing sides of the discharge spaces of the set of discharge spaces, and sharing one of a set of one or more longitudinal axes being transverse to the first axes, each pair of electrodes being separated by a substantially non-waveguiding inter-electrode gap with respect to the first axis, and being shaped along the longitudinal axis thereof to continuously vary one or more portions of the inter-electrode gap such that a laser beam produced by the laser has a desired mode having the highest power level of any mode present in the laser beam throughout operation of the laser.

A method of forming a laser comprising:

• providing a resonant cavity comprising a set of one or more discharge spaces and first and second mirrors, the first and second mirrors so shaped and positioned to form a stable resonator in a first axis and an unstable resonator in a second axis transverse to the first axis;
• providing a first set of one or more electrodes each having first inner surfaces;
• providing a second set of one or more electrodes each having second inner surfaces;
• and
• positioning the first and second sets of electrodes in opposing relation with each of the first inner surfaces being paired with one of the second inner surfaces, each of the paired first and second inner surfaces extending along a longitudinal axis thereof transverse to the first axis, the first and second inner surfaces of each of the paired first and second inner surfaces being on opposing sides of one of the discharge spaces of the set of discharge spaces to form a substantially non-waveguiding inter-electrode gap between the first and second inner surfaces thereof with a gap width with respect to the first axis, which varies in shape along portions of the respective longitudinal axis such that a laser beam produced by the laser has a desired mode having the highest power level of any mode present in the laser beam throughout operation of the laser.

A method of forming a laser comprising:

• providing a resonant cavity comprising a discharge space and first and second mirrors with at least a portion of the discharge space therebetween, the first and second mirrors so shaped and positioned to form a stable resonator in a first axis and an unstable resonator in a second axis transverse to the first axis;
• providing a first electrode having a first inner surface;
• providing a second electrode having a second inner surface;
• and
• positioning the first and second electrodes in opposing relation and extending along a longitudinal axis transverse to both the first axis and the second axis to form a substantially non-waveguiding inter-electrode gap, the first and second inner surfaces having a gap width varying in shape along portions of the longitudinal axis to produce a stable laser beam with a total power that fluctuates less than plus and minus 10% of an average total power level of the laser beam.

A method of forming a laser comprising:

• providing a resonator comprising first and second mirrors, the resonator configured to be stable with respect to a first axis and unstable with respect to a set of one or more second axes transverse to the first axis;
• providing a set of one or more lasing media sections;
• positioning the set of lasing media sections with respect to the resonator such that each of the lasing media sections has a non-waveguiding size along one of the second axes, has a non-waveguiding size along the first axis, and has a size along a longitudinal axis transverse to the first axis;
• and
• providing the set of lasing media sections with varying sizes along the longitudinal axis to produce a stable laser beam with a total power level that fluctuates less than plus or minus 10% of an average total power level of the laser beam.

A method of forming a laser comprising:

• providing an resonator comprising first and second mirrors, the resonator configured to be stable with respect to a first axis and unstable with respect to a set of second axes transverse to the first axis;
• providing a set of one or more lasing media sections;
• positioning the set of lasing media sections between the first and second mirrors such that each of the lasing media sections has non-waveguiding size along the first axis, each of the lasing media sections having non-waveguiding size along at least one of the second axes and each of the lasing media sections has a size along a longitudinal axis of a set of one or more longitudinal axes transverse to the first axis;
• and
• providing one or more of the lasing media sections with a size varying along its respective longitudinal axis to produce a stable laser beam having a desired mode with the highest power level of any mode present in the laser beam throughout operation of the laser.

In a laser having a lasing medium in a discharge space and first and second mirrors, the first and second mirrors being disposed toward opposing ends of the discharge space along a longitudinal axis, the first and second mirrors forming a stable resonator with respect to a first axis traverse to the longitudinal axis and forming an unstable resonator with respect to a second axis transverse to both the longitudinal axis and the first axis, a plurality of electrodes comprising:

• means for applying energy received from an energy source to the lasing medium to excite the lasing medium to produce a laser beam;
• means for non-waveguiding the laser beam with respect to the first axis;
• and
• means for decreasing power levels of selected modes of the laser beam such that a desired mode has the highest power level of any mode present in the laser beam throughout operation of the laser.

In a laser having a lasing medium in a discharge space and first and second mirrors, the first and second mirrors being disposed toward opposing ends of the discharge space along a longitudinal axis, the first and second mirrors forming a stable resonator with respect to a first axis traverse to the longitudinal axis and forming an unstable resonator with respect to a second axis transverse to both the longitudinal axis and the first axis, a plurality of electrodes comprising:

• means for applying energy received from an energy source to the lasing medium to excite the lasing medium to produce a laser beam;
• means for non-waveguiding the laser beam with respect to the first axis;
• and
• means for stabilizing the laser beam such that the stable laser beam has a total power level that fluctuates less than plus and minus 10% of an average total power level of the laser beam.

For a laser having a lasing medium in a discharge space and first and second mirrors, the first and second mirrors being disposed toward opposing ends of the discharge space along a longitudinal axis, the first and second mirrors forming a stable resonator with respect to a first axis traverse to the longitudinal axis and forming an unstable resonator with respect to a second axis transverse to both the longitudinal axis and the first axis, a method of operating the laser comprising:

• applying energy to the lasing medium through a plurality of electrodes to excite the lasing medium to produce a laser beam;
• non-waveguiding the laser beam with respect to the first axis;
• and
• stabilizing the laser beam through interaction of the laser beam with the plurality of electrodes such that the stable laser beam has a total power level that fluctuates less than plus and minus 10% of an average total power level of the laser beam.

For a laser having a lasing medium in a discharge space and first and second mirrors, the first and second mirrors being disposed toward opposing ends of the discharge space along a longitudinal axis, the first and second mirrors forming a stable resonator with respect to a first axis traverse to the longitudinal axis and forming an unstable resonator with respect to a second axis transverse to both the longitudinal axis and the first axis, a method of operating the laser comprising:

• applying energy to the lasing medium through a plurality of electrodes to excite the lasing medium to produce a laser beam;
• non-waveguiding the laser beam with respect to the first axis;
• and
• decreasing power levels of selected modes of the laser beam through interaction of the laser beam with the plurality of electrodes such that a desired mode has the highest power level of any mode present in the laser beam throughout operation of the laser.