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US 5,353,296 AGranted
Materials processing with a high repetition rate isotopic carbon dioxide laser
AssigneeCoherent, Inc.
InventorDale E. Koop
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An laser system is disclosed for materials processing. The system includes an RF excited, conduction cooled, sealed gas laser. The lasing species in the gas mixture is an isotope of carbon dioxide and in the preferred embodiment is defined by the .sup.13 CO.sub.2 isotope. The use of the .sup.13 CO.sub.2 isotope functions to shorten the rise and fall times of the laser pulses. By this arrangement, the laser may be operated at higher repetition rates with a full depth of power modulation.
Claims35
A laser for use in materials processing comprising:
- a sealed housing for holding a lasing gas mixture;
- a resonant cavity defining a gas discharge region;
- a pair of electrodes for exciting said gas mixture in said gas discharge region;
- and
- a pulsed RF excitation means for energizing said electrodes and exciting said gas mixture in said gas discharge region to generate a pulsed laser beam and wherein the lasing species in said gas mixture consists primarily of an isotope of carbon dioxide with the remaining constituents and pressure of said gas mixture being selected to provide a depth of modulation of said laser output of at least eighty percent at pulse repetition rates up to 20 Khz.
2 more elements
A laser for use in materials processing comprising:
- a sealed housing for holding a lasing gas mixture;
- a resonant cavity defining a gas discharge region;
- a pair of electrodes for exciting said gas mixture in said gas discharge region;
- and
- a pulsed RF excitation means for energizing said electrodes and exciting said gas mixture in said gas discharge region to generate a pulsed laser beam and wherein the lasing species in said gas mixture consists primarily of an isotope of carbon dioxide with the remaining constituents and pressure of said gas mixture being selected so that the rise and fall times of each pulse are at least 1.6 times as fast as the rise and fall times of a pulse that would be created using standard carbon dioxide gas as the lasing species.
2 more elements
A laser system for materials processing comprising:
- a sealed gas discharge laser for generating a pulsed output beam and with the lasing gas being predominantly an isotope of carbon dioxide, whereby said laser can be operated at repetition rates in a range between 10 and 20 Khz while maintaining a depth of modulation between the output pulses;
- and
- means for directing the beam to the material to be processed.
A laser system for materials processing comprising:
- a sealed gas discharge laser for generating a pulsed output beam and with the lasing gas being predominantly an isotope of carbon dioxide, wherein the gas in the sealed discharge laser is defined by a gas mixture and wherein the pressure of the gas mixture and the composition of the constituents are selected to provide a depth of modulation of said laser output of at least eighty percent at pulse repetition rates up to 20 Khz;
- and
- means for directing the beam to the material to be processed.
A laser system for materials processing comprising:
- a sealed gas discharge laser for generating a pulsed output beam and with the lasing gas being predominantly an isotope of carbon dioxide, wherein the gas in the sealed discharge laser is defined by a gas mixture and wherein the pressure of the gas mixture and the composition of the constituents are selected so that the rise and fall times of each pulse are at least 1.6 times as fast as the rise and fall times of a pulse that would be created using standard carbon dioxide gas as the lasing species;
- and
- means for directing the beam to the material to be processed.
A method for processing materials comprising:
- generating a pulsed laser beam from a gas discharge laser, with the lasing gas being predominantly an isotope of carbon dioxide, whereby said laser can be operated at repetition rates in a range between 10 and 20 Khz while maintaining a depth of modulation of at least ninety percent between the output pulses;
- and
- directing the beam to the material to be processed.
A method for processing materials comprising:
- generating a pulsed laser beam from a sealed gas discharge laser, with the lasing gas being predominantly an isotope of carbon dioxide, wherein the gas in the sealed discharge laser is defined by a gas mixture and wherein the pressure of the gas mixture and the composition of the constituents are selected to provide a depth of modulation of said laser output of at least eighty percent at pulse repetition rates up to 20 Khz;
- and
- directing the beam to the material to be processed.
A method for processing materials comprising:
- generating a pulsed laser beam from a sealed gas discharge laser, with the lasing gas being predominantly an isotope of carbon dioxide, wherein the gas in the sealed discharge laser is defined by a gas mixture and wherein the pressure of the gas mixture and the composition of the constituents are selected so that the rise and fall times of each pulse are at least 1.6 time as fast as the rise and fall times of a pulse that would be created using standard carbon dioxide gas as the lasing species;
- and
- directing the beam to the material to be processed.
A laser for use in materials processing comprising:
- a sealed housing for holding a lasing gas mixture;
- a resonant cavity defining a gas discharge region;
- a pair of electrodes for exciting said gas mixture in said gas discharge region;
- and
- a pulsed RF excitation means for energizing said electrodes and exciting said gas mixture in said gas discharge region to generate a pulsed laser beam and wherein the lasing species in said gas mixture consists primarily of an isotope of carbon dioxide with the remaining constituents and pressure of said gas mixture being selected to provide a depth of modulation of said laser output of at least ninety percent at pulse repetition rates in the range of 10 to 20 Khz.
2 more elements
A laser for use in materials processing comprising:
- a sealed housing for holding a lasing gas mixture;
- a resonant cavity defining a gas discharge region;
- a pair of electrodes for exciting said gas mixture in said gas discharge region;
- and
- a pulsed RF excitation means for energizing said electrodes and exciting said gas mixture in said gas discharge region to generate a pulsed laser beam and wherein the lasing species in said gas mixture consists primarily of an isotope of carbon dioxide with the remaining constituents and pressure of said gas mixture being selected to provide a depth of modulation of said laser output of at least ninety-five percent at pulse repetition rates up to 10 Khz.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.