Protective coating for solid state slab lasers

Abstract

A protective coating [26] and a method for applying the same on an optically pumped solid state laser [10] having a lasing medium in the form of a slab [12] with at least two opposed parallel pumping faces [18, 20] between which a laser beam [11] propagates along a zig-zag path dictated by total internal reflection between these pumping faces. The slab [12] has an input face [14] for coupling in the laser beam and an output face [16] for coupling it out. The protective coating [26] is an organic synthetic, processed thermoplastic, or thermosetting polymer. Preferred materials include polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polyvinylidene chloride (PVC), polyethylene, polyimide, and Mylar. The protective coating [26] is applied onto the slab [12] from a solution in which the solvent is selected from the group of materials consisting of ketones, esters, and perfluorinated solvents. Most preferably, the protective coating [26] is a random copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) and 2,2,bis-trifluoromethyl-4,5 difluoro 1,3 dioxole, traded under the name Teflon AF (R), and the solvent is a perfluorinated solvent. Most preferably, the perfluorinated solvent is a completely fluorinated organic compound comprising primarily C.sub.8 F.sub.18 (e.g., Fluorinert FC-75 (R)).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.