Condensation prevention for high-power laser systems
AssigneePanasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
InventorsBryan LOCHMAN, Matthew Sauter, Bien Chann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In various embodiments, laser systems or resonators incorporate two separate cooling loops that may be operated at different cooling temperatures. One cooling loop, which may be operated at a lower temperature, cools beam emitters. The other cooling loop, which may be operated at a higher temperature, cools other mechanical and/or optical components, for example optical elements such as lenses and/or reflectors.
Claims24
-46. (canceled)
A laser system comprising:
- one or more laser resonators, each laser resonator comprising (i) a resonator housing, (ii) a plurality of beam emitters, each configured to emit one or more beams, disposed within the resonator housing, and (iii) disposed within the resonator housing, a plurality of components for receiving and/or manipulating the beams from the beam emitters;
- a beam-combining module configured to (i) receive one or more beams from each laser resonator, (ii) combine the received beams, and (iii) output one or more combined output beams;
- a fiber optic module configured to receive the one or more combined output beams from the beam-combining module and couple the one or more combined output beams into an optical fiber;
- and
- a first cooling loop for cooling, via flow of a first cooling fluid therethrough, at least one of (i) the plurality of components of each resonator, (ii) the beam-combining module, or (iii) the fiber optic module.
-68. (canceled)
A method of operating a laser system comprising (A) two or more laser resonators, each laser resonator comprising (i) a resonator housing, (ii) a plurality of beam emitters, each configured to emit one or more beams, disposed within the resonator housing, and (iii) disposed within the resonator housing, a plurality of components for receiving and/or manipulating the beams from the beam emitters, (B) a beam-combining module, and (C) a fiber optic module, the method comprising:
- cooling the beam emitters of each laser resonator via flow of a first cooling fluid supplied at a first temperature;
- cooling at least one of (i) the plurality of components of each laser resonator, (ii) the beam-combining module, or (iii) the fiber optic module via flow of a second cooling fluid supplied at a second temperature different from the first temperature;
- operating the plurality of beam emitters of each laser resonator to emit the beams from the beam emitters;
- in each resonator housing, manipulating the beams with the plurality of components to form a resonator output beam;
- emitting the resonator output beam from each resonator housing;
- combining the resonator output beams in the beam-combining module to form a combined output beam;
- emitting the combined output beam from the beam-combining module;
- and
- with the fiber-optic module, coupling the combined output beam into an optical fiber.
-87. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.