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US 3,947,781 AGranted
Laser device
OwnerKarl Gerhard Hernqvistinventor
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OwnerKarl Gerhard Hernqvistinventor
Estimating the term…
To prevent deleterious effects from the sputtering of the cathode of a laser, the cathode surface portions exposed to the gaseous filling within the laser envelope are coated with a vaporizable metal. The coated cathode surface portions are held during laser operation at a temperature within a small range of values including the vaporization temperature of the metal coating the cathode surface. The atoms of the coating metal are sputtered off of the cathode surface by ion bombardment during operation but are immediately redeposited from the vapor of the coating metal adjacent to the cathode surface. Cataphoretic containment of the metal vapor within the central portion of the laser envelope is obtained by providing access to the cathode electrode from an anode electrode in each end of the envelope only through insulating tubular members having a length-to-inner diameter ratio greater than 2 and optimally around 5.
A laser device comprising a closed envelope, a gaseous filling within said envelope, an anode electrode and a cathode electrode having surface portions within said envelope exposed to said gaseous filling, said cathode surface portions being coated with a vaporizable metal, and means for retaining said coated cathode surface portions at a temperature within a small range of values including the vaporization temperature of said vaporizable metal.
A laser device comprising an envelope, a gaseous filling within said envelope, an anode electrode, having at least a part thereof, within said envelope, a tubular cathode electrode spaced from said anode electrode and forming a portion of said envelope with the outer surface of said tubular cathode electrode being external of said envelope, the inner tubular surface of said cathode electrode being within said envelope and coated with a vaporizable metal, and means for retaining said coated cathode surface at a temperature within a small range of values including the condensation temperature of said vaporizable metal.
A laser device comprising a longitudinally extending envelope having a central portion and two end portions, a first insulator member separating said central portion of said envelope from one end of said envelope, a second insulator member separating said central envelope portion from the other end portion of said envelope, at least one tubular cathode electrode within said central envelope portion, said first insulator member having a tubular portion coaxially aligned with said cathode electrode and extending between said central and one end envelope portions, a first anode electrode within said one end portion of said envelope and adjacent to said tubular portion of said first insulator member, a second insulator member having a tubular portion coaxially aligned with said cathode electrode and extending between said central and other end portions of said envelope, and a second anode electrode within said other end portion of said envelope and adjacent to said tubular portion of said second insulator member, the ratios of the length to the inside diameter of said tubular portions of said first and second insulator members being greater than 2.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.