Injection locking type or MOPA type of laser device
AssigneesKomatsu Ltd., Gigaphoton Inc.
InventorsKiyoharu Nakao, Osamu Wakabayashi
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Abstract
An injection locking type or MOPA type of laser device capable of always obtaining stable output energy and wavelength is provided. For this purpose, the laser device includes an oscillator (11A) for oscillating seed laser light (21A) with wavelength band-narrowed by a band-narrowing unit (30), an amplifier (11B) for amplifying the seed laser light and emitting the amplified laser light (21B), a wavelength monitor (34A) for detecting at least a wavelength characteristic of the seed laser light, and a laser controller (29) for performing adjustment oscillation to contain a wavelength characteristic within a predetermined allowable range, at a time of startup or when laser oscillation is suspended for a predetermined period of time or more.
Claims8
An injection locking type or MOPA type of laser device (11) used with a processing device (25), the injection locking type or MOPA type of laser device (11) and the processing device (25) being electrically connected with each other and mutually communicable, comprising:
- a laser controller (29) for outputting a laser trigger signal (GL) when receiving a trigger signal (G), which is a sign of laser oscillation, from the processing device (25);
- an oscillator (11A) for exciting a laser gas by oscillator discharge caused by application of an oscillator voltage (VA) across oscillator electrodes (14A, 15A), which are disposed in an oscillator chamber (12A) where the laser gas is sealed, from an oscillator discharge circuit (43A), the oscillator exciting the laser gas in response to an input of the laser trigger signal (GL) to generate a seed laser light (21A), and oscillating the seed laser light (21A) with a wavelength band being narrowed by a band-narrowing unit (30) including a grating (33);
- an amplifier (11B) for amplifying the seed laser light (21A) by amplification discharge caused by application of an amplifier voltage (VB) across amplifier electrodes (14B, 15B), which are disposed in an amplifier chamber (12B) where the laser gas is sealed, by means of an amplification discharge circuit (43B) in response to an input of the laser trigger signal (GL) to emit an amplified laser light (21B) to the processing device (25);
- and
- a first wavelength monitor (34A) disposed between the oscillator (11A) and the amplifier (11B) for detecting a center wavelength (λc) of the seed laser light (21A),
- wherein the laser controller (29) adjusts an angle of the seed laser light (21A) incident to the grating (33) on the basis of the center wavelength (λc) of the seed laser light (21A) detected by the first wavelength monitor (34A) to accommodate the center wavelength (λc) of the seed laser light (21A) within an allowable range.
An injection locking type or MOPA type of laser device (11) used with a processing device (25), the injection locking type or MOPA type of laser device (11) and the processing device (25) being electrically connected with each other and mutually communicable, comprising:
- a shutter (52B) provided between the laser device (11) and the processing device (25), for shuttering incidence, of laser light emitted from the laser device (11) to the processing device (25);
- an oscillator (11A) for exciting a laser gas by oscillator discharge caused by application of an oscillator voltage (VA) across oscillator electrodes (14A, 15A), which are disposed in an oscillator chamber (12A) where the laser gas is sealed, from an oscillator discharge circuit (43A), the oscillator exciting the laser gas in response to an input of the laser trigger signal (GL) to generate a seed laser light (21A), and oscillating the seed laser light (21A) with a wavelength band being narrowed by a band-narrowing unit (30) including a grating (33);
- an amplifier (11B) for amplifying the seed laser light (21A) by amplification discharge caused by application of an amplifier voltage (VB) across amplifier electrodes (14B, 15B), which are disposed in an amplifier chamber (12B) where the laser gas is sealed by means of an amplification discharge circuit (43B) in response to an input of the laser trigger signal (GL) to emit an amplified laser light (21B) to the processing device (25);
- and
- a first wavelength monitor (34A) disposed between the oscillator (11A) and the amplifier (11B) for detecting a center wavelength (λc) of the seed laser light (21A),
- wherein a laser controller (29), wherein receiving a trigger signal (G) which is a sign of laser oscillation, from the processing device (25), controls to make the shutter (52B) to be in a non-shuttering state to output the laser trigger signal (GL) and, on the basis of the center wavelength (λC) of the seed laser light (21A detected by the first wavelength monitor (34A), controls to accommodate the center wavelength (λC) of the seed laser light (21A) within an allowable range and controls the laser light emitted from the laser device (11) to incident to the processing device (25) and, when the laser oscillation in the laser device (11) stops for more than a predetermined time, controls the shutter (52B) to be in a shuttering state to output the laser trigger signal (GL) irrespective of a trigger signal (G) output from the processing device (25) and makes the oscillator (11A) to perform adjustment oscillation of the seed laser light (21A), and, based on the center wavelength (λc) of the seed laser light (21A) detected by the first wavelength monitor (34A), adjusts an angle of the seed laser light (21A) incident to the grating (33) to accommodate the center wavelength (λc) of the seed laser light (21A) within an allowable range.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.