Excitation system for multi-channel lasers
OwnerHerb J. J. Seguininventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An excitation system for a gas laser featuring a multiplicity of gain channels uses a resonant cavity to provide broad band RF power division and impedance matching to the multiplicity of gain channels. Integral anode and grid resonant tank circuits featuring positive feedback may be employed to provide a self-excited power oscillator having a very high power capability with good efficiency at low cost. A smaller and higher frequency multi-channel excitation system fabricated from stripline resonator elements may be used for driving small scale multi-channel lasers. A common optical extraction system features either a stable, an unstable, or a hybrid optical cavity mode, with phase-locked or non-phase locked output performance, achieved via external or self-injection.
Claims43
A laser system comprising:
- an optical cavity;
- plural slabs of laser excitation media, each slab being elongated in a first direction and forming a slab gain channel, the plural slabs of laser excitation media forming an array of gain channels positioned within the optical cavity;
- means attached to each slab of laser excitation media for cooling of the laser excitation media;
- optical extraction means attached to each slab of laser excitation media for extraction of optical energy from the slabs of laser excitation media;
- a source of laser excitation energy for exciting the laser excitation media;
- and
- a resonant RF cavity circumvolving said array of gain channels;
- means for pumping laser excitation energy from the source of excitation energy into the resonant RF cavity;
- and
- a plurality of low impedance magnetic elements for matched coupling of laser excitation energy from the resonant RF cavity to each of the slabs of laser excitation media contained within the optical cavity, thereby providing multi-channel uniform power distribution.
A laser system comprising:
- an optical cavity;
- at least one slab of gaseous laser excitation media, each slab being elongated along an optical axis and forming a slab gain channel within the optical cavity;
- means attached to each slab of laser excitation media for cooling of the laser excitation media;
- optical extraction means attached to each slab of laser excitation media for extraction of optical energy from each slab of laser excitation media;
- a source of laser excitation energy for exciting the laser excitation media, and
- a resonant cavity circumvolving the optical cavity;
- means for pumping laser excitation energy from the source of excitation energy into the resonant RF cavity;
- and
- a plurality of low impedance magnetic elements for matched coupling of laser excitation energy from the resonant RF cavity to each of the each of the slabs of laser excitation media contained within the optical cavity, thereby providing multi-channel uniform power distribution.
A laser system comprising:
- at least one slab of excitation media, each slab being elongated in a first direction and forming a slab gain channel;
- means attached to each slab for RF excitation and cooling of the laser excitation media;
- optical extraction means attached to each slab of laser excitation media for extraction of optical energy from each slab of laser excitation media;
- means for optical energy extraction including an annular-coupled concave-convex stable resonator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.