MOPA laser apparatus with two master oscillators for generating ultraviolet radiation
AssigneeCoherent, Inc.
InventorsLuis A. Spinelli, Andrea Caprara, Andrei Staroudoumov, Norman Hodgson
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Abstract
Laser apparatus including two different, pulsed MOPAs, one having a fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm and the other having a fundamental wavelength of 1564 nm, provide trains of optical pulses. The 1064-nm pulses are frequency tripled to 355 nm and the 1564-nm pulses are frequency doubled to 782 nm. The 355-nm and 782-nm pulses are mixed to provide 244-nm pulses. The 244-nm pulses are mixed with residual 1064-nm pulses to provide 198-nm output pulses of the apparatus. The output pulses can be either digitally modulated or amplitude modulated by controlling the phase relationship between the 1064-nm and 1564-nm pulses.
Claims23
A method of generating optical pulses, comprising the steps of:
- generating output pulses having a first fundamental wavelength from a first laser;
- generating output pulses having a second fundamental wavelength from a second laser;
- frequency-multiplying said first fundamental wavelength output pulses to provide pulses having a wavelength which is a harmonic wavelength of said first fundamental wavelength;
- frequency-multiplying said second fundamental wavelength output pulses to provide pulses having a wavelength which a harmonic wavelength of said second fundamental wavelength;
- sum-frequency mixing said harmonic-wavelength pulses to provide frequency-converted pulses having a first frequency-converted wavelength that is less than either of said harmonic wavelengths;
- and
- sum-frequency mixing said frequency-converted-wavelength pulses with fundamental-wavelength pulses from one of said first and second lasers to provide frequency-converted pulses having a second frequency-converted wavelength, said second frequency-converted wavelength being less than said first frequency-converted wavelength.
A method of generating optical pulses, comprising the steps of:
- generating output pulses having a first fundamental wavelength from a first laser, said first fundamental wavelength being between about 800 nanometers and 1700 nanometers;
- generating output pulses having a second fundamental wavelength from a second laser, said second fundamental wavelength being between about 800 nanometers and 1700 nanometers;
- frequency-multiplying said first fundamental wavelength output pulses to provide pulses having a wavelength which is a harmonic wavelength of said first fundamental wavelength;
- frequency-multiplying said second fundamental wavelength output pulses to provide pulses having a wavelength which a harmonic wavelength of said second fundamental wavelength;
- sum-frequency mixing said harmonic-wavelength pulses to provide frequency-converted pulses having a first frequency-converted wavelength that is less than either of said harmonic wavelengths;
- and
- sum-frequency mixing said frequency-converted-wavelength pulses with unconverted fundamental-wavelength pulses from one of said first and second lasers to provide frequency-converted pulses having a second frequency-converted wavelength, said second frequency-converted wavelength being less than said first frequency-converted wavelength.
Optical apparatus, comprising
- a first laser arranged to generate output pulses having a first fundamental wavelength;
- a second laser arranged to generate output pulses having a second fundamental wavelength;
- first and second optically nonlinear crystals arranged to triple the frequency the frequency of the first-fundamental-wavelength pulses to provide frequency-tripled pulses having the third-harmonic wavelength of the first fundamental wavelength;
- a third optically nonlinear crystal arranged to double the frequency the frequency of the second-fundamental-wavelength pulses to provide frequency-doubled pulses having the second-harmonic wavelength of the second fundamental wavelength;
- a fourth optically non-linear crystal arranged to sum-frequency mix the frequency-tripled and frequency-doubled pulses to provide first frequency-converted pulses having a wavelength less than the third-harmonic wavelength of the first fundamental wavelength and the second-harmonic wavelength of the second fundamental wavelength;
- and
- a fifth optically non linear crystal arranged to sum-frequency mix the first frequency-converted pulses with unconverted first fundamental wavelength-pulses to provide second frequency-converted pulses having a wavelength less than that of the first frequency-converted pulses.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.