Coherent beam combiner for a high power laser
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsC. Brent Dane, Lloyd A. Hackel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A phase conjugate laser mirror employing Brillouin-enhanced four wave mixing allows multiple independent laser apertures to be phase locked producing an array of diffraction-limited beams with no piston phase errors. The beam combiner has application in laser and optical systems requiring high average power, high pulse energy, and low beam divergence. A broad range of applications exist in laser systems for industrial processing, especially in the field of metal surface treatment and laser shot peening.
Claims20
A Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) phase conjugator, comprising:
- a pair of highly reflecting comb mirrors, comprising a first comb mirror and a second comb mirror, wherein said first comb mirror and said second comb mirror have their mirrored surfaces facing each other;
- a confocal lens pair placed between said pair of highly reflecting comb mirrors, wherein said confocal lens pair together with said pair of highly reflecting comb mirrors form a doubly resonant configuration and wherein the first and third foci of a beam input to said confocal lens pair overlap;
- and
- a SBS gain medium placed between said confocal lens pair.
A Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) phase conjugate mirror, comprising:
- a pair of comb mirrors having their mirrored surfaces facing each other;
- a confocal lens pair placed between said pair of comb mirrors, wherein said confocal lens pair together with said pair of comb mirrors form a doubly resonant configuration and wherein the first and third foci of an beam input between the teeth of said comb mirror overlap;
- and
- a SBS gain medium placed between said confocal lens pair.
A Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) phase conjugate mirror, comprising:
- a pair of highly reflecting comb mirrors having their mirrored surfaces facing each other;
- a confocal lens pair placed between said pair of high reflectors, wherein said confocal lens pair together with said pair of high reflectors form a doubly resonant configuration incorporating any number of gain passes greater than or equal to 3 distributed in two overlapping regions;
- and
- a SBS gain medium placed between said confocal lens pair.
A solid-state Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) phase conjugate mirror, comprising:
- a SBS gain medium:
- a doubly resonant configuration incorporating any number of gain passes greater than or equal to 3 distributed in two overlapping regions within said solid-state SBS gain medium.
A method for reducing temporal phase instabilities in a laser pulse, comprising:
- producing a laser pulse;
- and
- focussing said laser beam into a solid-state Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) gain medium comprising a doubly-resonant SBS configuration which incorporates a first comb mirror and a second comb mirror and two separate focal points in said solid-state SBS gain medium, wherein temporal phase instabilities are reduced during the stimulated scattering process that occurs within said SBS gain medium when said laser pulse propagates on said doubly resonant configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.