Dual cavity multifunction laser system
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorJoseph M. Fukumoto
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Abstract
A dual cavity multifunction laser comprising a diode-pumped, contact cooled, slab laser head that supports two different length unstable resonators. The laser produces short (<8 ns), low energy 1 μm pulses or long (>15 ns), higher energy 1 μm pulses from the same laser system at different repetition rates, if desired. The output from each resonator can be separately optimized for different operating modes such as target designation and target profiling. The unstable resonators use independently optimized super Gaussian output couplers to generate high quality beams for each of the high and low pulse energy modes. The resonators also share a common bounce path to minimize intracavity losses and thermally induced birefringence for both resonators.
Claims17
A dual cavity multifunction laser having first and second cavities, comprising:
- a common rear reflector disposed at a rear end of the first and second cavities;
- an electro-optical Q-switch disposed along a common optical path of the first and second cavities that includes the common rear reflector;
- a hold-off polarizer disposed along the common optical path;
- a first gain medium disposed along the common optical path;
- a laser pumping device to pump the first gain medium;
- a cavity switching polarizer disposed along the common optical path;
- a first cavity super Gaussian output coupler disposed at an output end of the first cavity that outputs a high repetition rate, low pulse energy output beam;
- a second cavity super Gaussian output coupler disposed at an output end of the second cavity that outputs a low repetition rate, high pulse energy output beam;
- and
- a halfwave plate selectively disposed between the first and second cavities when second cavity output is desired.
The laser recited in 5 wherein the variable stack-to-slab optical coupler comprises a single cylindrical lens.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.