Compact co2 slab-laser
AssigneeCoherent, Inc.
InventorsLeon A. NEWMAN, Adrian PAPANIDE, Mathew David RZEWNICKI, Thomas V. HENNESSEY, JR.
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A compact CO2 slab-laser is contained in a fluid cooled housing having three compartments. One compartment houses discharge electrodes and a laser resonator. Another compartment houses a radio-frequency power supply (RFPS) assembled on a fluid-cooled chill plate and an impedance-matching network. The remaining compartment houses beam-conditioning optics including a spatial filter. The housing and RFPS chill-plate are on a common coolant-fluid circuit having a single input and a single output. The spatial filter is optionally fluid-coolable on the common coolant fluid circuit.
Claims17
CO2 radio frequency (RF) gas-discharge laser apparatus, comprising:
- a laser housing formed from an elongated metal extrusion, the extrusion configured to permit passage of coolant fluid therethrough for cooling the housing;
- first and second elongated discharge-electrodes located in the laser housing, spaced apart and parallel to each other defining a discharge gap therebetween, the first electrode functioning as a live-electrode and the second electrode functioning as a ground electrode the discharge-electrodes being configured to permit passage of coolant fluid therethrough for cooling the electrodes;
- first and second resonator mirrors defining a laser resonator extending though the discharge-gap between the discharge-electrodes;
- and
- a radio-frequency power-supply (RFPS) and an impedance-matching network located in the laser housing for supplying RF power to the electrodes for creating a RF discharge in the discharge gap for causing a laser beam to be generated in and delivered from the laser resonator, the RFPS being assembled on an elongated metal mounting-plate configured to permit passage of coolant fluid therethrough for cooling the RFPS assembled thereon.
A filter for modifying the spatial modes of a laser beam passing therethrough comprising:
- a housing having an aperture for transmitting the laser beam;
- a first element mounted with the housing and having a first edge oriented perpendicular to the propagation axis of the laser beam;
- a second element mounted in the housing and having a second edge oriented perpendicular to the propagation axis of the laser beam, said first and second edges being parallel to each other and spaced apart with the central axis of the beam passing between the first and second edges;
- and
- means accessible from one side of the housing for independently moving the first and second elements in direction perpendicular to the propagation axis of the beam to increase or reduce the separation between the knife edges, said means being configured so that the beam will remain unobstructed when separation between the knife edges is adjusted.
A filter for modifying the spatial modes of a laser beam passing therethrough comprising:
- a housing having an aperture for transmitting the laser beam;
- a first element mounted with the housing and having a first edge oriented perpendicular to the propagation axis of the laser beam;
- a second element mounted in the housing and having a second edge oriented perpendicular to the propagation axis of the laser beam, said first and second edges being parallel to each other and spaced apart with the central axis of the beam passing between the first and second edges;
- a pusher element located within the housing located to be engagement with the second element on the side thereof opposite to the first element;
- a first biasing member extending from the side of the housing closer to the first element, said first biasing member extending into the housing and into contact with the first element and arranged such that the adjustment of the first biasing member causes the first edge to move closer to or farther away from the second edge;
- and
- a second biasing member extending from the same side of the housing as the first biasing member and into the housing and into engagement with the pusher member without passing through the region where the laser beam is transmitted and arranged such that the adjustment of the second biasing member causes the second edge to move closer to or farther away from the first edge.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.