Gas laser tube with stray light restriction
AssigneeRCA Corporation
InventorsRobert Stephen Kutay, Kenneth Wentz Laughman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Light that is initiated in a laser device includes a diffusion of scattered and reflected light around the laser beam. This diffusion of light occurs because light in the optical cavity of the laser is reflected from the surfaces of the bore and becomes misaligned, so that it leaves the laser along paths which are outside of the cone of light formed by the laser device. This diffusion of part of the laser light reduces the efficiency of the device and is objectionable in many applications. The diffused light is eliminated by providing a restriction in the optical cavity of the laser device which blocks off the stray or misaligned light. This restriction, or beam cleaner, may be positioned at various points along the axis of the optical cavity.
Claims3
A laser device for generating a beam of coherent light, said device comprising a hermetically sealed envelope, a gas filling within said envelope, a tube extending within said envelope and having a bore, a different optical mirror adjacent to each end of said bore and aligned with the axis of said bore to form an optical resonator cavity within the bore, one of said mirrors being spherical for directing a cone of light along the axis of said bore toward the other one of said mirrors, an anode electrode fixed within the envelope and having a portion exposed to the space within said bore, a cathode electrode mounted within said envelope and spaced from said anode, and a coil spring pressed within said bore and having a passage therethrough positioned coaxially with said bore between said optical mirrors, said passage being smaller than said bore and larger than the cone of light directed from said spherical mirror.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.