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AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorLarry C. Johnson
Estimating the term…
An unstable resonator to be used in high power, narrow line CO.sub.2 pump lasers comprises an array of four reflectors in a ring configuration wherein spherical and planar wavefronts are separated from each other along separate optical paths and only the planar wavefronts are impinged on a plane grating for line tuning. The reflector array comprises a concave mirror for reflecting incident spherical waves as plane waves along an output axis to form an output beam. A plane grating on the output axis is oriented to reflect a portion of the output beam off axis onto a planar relay mirror spaced apart from the output axis in proximity to the concave mirror. The relay mirror reflects plane waves from the grating to impinge on a convex expanding mirror spaced apart from the output axis in proximity to the grating. The expanding mirror reflects the incident planar waves as spherical waves to illuminate the concave mirror. Tuning is provided by rotating the plane grating about an axis normal to the output axis.
A tunable, unstable resonator laser cavity, comprising:
A tunable, unstable resonator laser cavity, comprising an array of reflectors arranged in a ring configuration to establish separate optical paths for spherical and plane wavefronts, said array including a concave reflector for reflecting incident spherical electromagnetic waves as plane waves along an output axis to form an output beam, a plane grating on said output axis having means for adjusting an orientation of said plane grating for line tuning of the cavity and oriented to reflect a portion of said output beam off axis;
A method of tuning an unstable resonator laser cavity within which are propagated by reflector means intermixed spherial and plane electromagnetic waves, comprising the steps of separating said spherical and plane electromagnetic waves from each other within said cavity;
A tunable, unstable resonator laser cavity, comprising an array of reflectors within said cavity arranged in a ring configuration to establish separate optical paths for spherical and plane wavefronts, said array including first reflector means for establishing a first optical path containing substantially only spherical wavefronts and second reflector means for establishing a second optical path containing substantially only plane wavefronts, and a plane grating positioned in said second optical path having means for adjusting an orientation of said plane grating for line tuning of the cavity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.