Claims
- 1. A laser pump cavity pumped with pump energy at a first wavelength and producing laser energy at a second wavelength, said laser pump cavity comprising:
a laser rod having a polygonally-shaped cross-section and a longitudinal axis and having a first end and a second end; and an outer cladding surrounding the laser rod along its longitudinal axis and being diffusion-bonded to the laser rod, wherein said outer cladding is substantially transmissive at said first wavelength and is substantially absorptive at said second wavelength.
- 2. The laser pump cavity according to claim 1, further comprising:
one or more sections of a layer of a first material coating the outer cladding, the layer of the first material being highly reflective to pump energy applied to the pump cavity and being disposed on areas of the outer cladding where pump energy is not applied; and one or more sections of a layer of a second material coating the outer cladding, the layer of the second material being anti-reflective to pump energy applied to the pump cavity and being disposed on areas of the outer cladding where pump energy is applied.
- 3. The laser pump cavity according to claim 1, wherein the outer cladding has an outer cross-sectional shape that is circular or elliptical.
- 4. The laser pump cavity according to claim 1, wherein the outer cladding has an outer cross-sectional shape that is polygonally-shaped.
- 5. The laser pump cavity according to claim 1, wherein the laser rod comprises neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 6. The laser pump cavity according to claim 1, wherein the laser rod comprises ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 7. The laser pump cavity according to claim 1, wherein the outer cladding comprises yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 8. The laser pump cavity according to claim 1, wherein the outer cladding comprises samarium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 9. The laser pump cavity according to claim 1, wherein the laser rod and the outer cladding have the same length and further comprising;
one or more extension segments disposed at the first end, or the second end, or both ends of the laser rod, the extension segments being diffusion bonded to the laser rod and the outer cladding.
- 10. The laser pump cavity according to claim 9, wherein the extension segments comprise undoped material.
- 11. The laser pump cavity according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the extension segments comprises saturable absorber material.
- 12. The laser pump cavity according to claim 1, further comprising:
one or more heats sinks surrounding the outer cladding and being disposed against the outer cladding to conduct heat from the outer cladding; and one or more slits in the heat sinks, the slits extending to the outer cladding and having a width and length to allow pump energy to be coupled to the pump cavity.
- 13. The laser pump cavity according to claim 12, wherein the slits are disposed in pairs and each slit in the pairs of slits being disposed at an angle of 180° to the other slit in the pair, the angle being measured from a center of the laser rod to the slit.
- 14. The laser pump cavity according to claim 12, wherein the slits are disposed in pairs and each slit in the pairs of slits being disposed at an angle of less than 180° to the other slit in the pair, the angle being measured from a center of the laser rod to the slit.
- 15. A laser pump cavity pumped with pump energy at a first wavelength and producing laser energy at a second wavelength, said laser pump cavity comprising:
a plurality of pump cavity segments, each pump cavity segment comprising:
a laser rod having a polygonally-shaped cross-section and a longitudinal axis; and an outer cladding surrounding the laser rod along its longitudinal axis and being diffusion-bonded to the laser rod, wherein said outer cladding is substantially transmissive at said first wavelength and is substantially absorptive at said second wavelength; and one or more extension segments disposed between the pump cavity sections of the plurality of pump cavity sections, the extension segments being diffusion bonded to the pump cavity sections.
- 16. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, wherein each pump cavity segment further comprises:
one or more sections of a layer of a first material coating the outer cladding, the layer of the first material being highly reflective to pump energy applied to the pump cavity section and being disposed on areas of the outer cladding where pump energy is not applied; and one or more sections of a layer of a second material coating the outer cladding, the layer of the second material being anti-reflective to pump energy applied to the pump cavity section and being disposed on areas of the outer cladding where pump energy is applied.
- 17. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, wherein the outer cladding in each pump cavity segment has an outer cross-sectional shape that is circular or elliptical.
- 18. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, wherein the outer cladding in each pump cavity segment has an outer cross-sectional shape that is polygonally-shaped.
- 19. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, wherein the laser rod in each pump cavity segment comprises neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 20. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, wherein the laser rod in each pump cavity segment comprises ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 21. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, wherein the outer cladding in each pump cavity segment comprises yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 22. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, wherein the outer cladding in each pump cavity segment comprises samarium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 23. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, wherein the extension segments comprise undoped material.
- 24. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, wherein at least one of the extension segments comprises saturable absorber material.
- 25. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, wherein the extended laser pump cavity has a first end and a second end and the extended laser pump cavity further comprises:
one or more end segments disposed at the first end, or the second end, or both ends of the extended laser pump cavity, the end segments being diffusion bonded to the extended laser pump cavity.
- 26. The laser pump cavity according to claim 15, further comprising:
one or more heats sinks surrounding each pump cavity segment and being disposed against the outer cladding of the pump cavity segment to conduct heat from the outer cladding; and one or more slits in the heat sinks, the slits extending to the outer cladding and having a width and length to allow pump energy to be coupled to the pump cavity segment at the one or more slits.
- 27. The laser pump cavity according to claim 26, wherein the slits are disposed in pairs and each slit in the pairs of slits being disposed at an angle of 180° to the other slit in the pair, the angle being measured from a center of the pump cavity section to the slit.
- 28. The laser pump cavity according to claim 26, wherein the slits are disposed in pairs and each slit in the pairs of slits being disposed at an angle of less than 180° to the other slit in the pair, the angle being measured from a center of the pump cavity section to the slit.
- 29. A method of fabricating a laser pump cavity with a polygonally-shaped core, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) specifying the polygonal shape for the core; (b) providing a core material slab having an upper surface, a lower surface, a first optically flat surface, and a second optically flat surface opposite the first optically flat surface, the first and the second optically flat surfaces disposed between and generally perpendicular to the upper surface and the lower surface; (c) providing a plurality of cladding material slabs, each slab having at least one optically flat surface; (d) diffusion bonding the optically flat surface of one slab of the plurality of cladding material slabs to the first optically flat surface of the core material slab; (e) diffusion bonding the optically flat surface of another slab of the plurality of cladding material slabs to the second optically flat surface of the core material slab to form a composite structure; (f) grinding and polishing the composite structure to remove at least some portion of the core material remaining from the core material slab to provide a new optically flat surface comprising at least some portion of the core material slab; (g) diffusion bonding the optically flat surface of another slab of the plurality of cladding material slabs to the new optically flat surface comprising at least some portion of the core material slab of the composite structure; and (h) repeating steps (f) and (g) until the core material from the core material slab is completely surrounded by cladding material to provide the laser pump cavity wherein the core has the specified polygonal shape.
- 30. The method of claim 29 wherein the cladding material slabs comprise cladding material that is substantially transmissive to pump energy at a first wavelength and is substantially absorptive to laser energy at a second wavelength.
- 31. The method of fabricating a laser pump cavity according to claim 29 further comprising the steps of:
(i) specifying a cross-sectional shape for the laser pump cavity; and (j) grinding and polishing the laser pump cavity until the laser pump cavity has the specified cross-sectional shape.
- 32. The method of fabricating a laser pump cavity according to claim 31 further comprising the step of:
(k) coating the outer surface of the laser pump cavity with one or more anti-reflective coatings, one or more highly reflective coatings, or both anti-reflective and highly reflective coatings.
- 33. The method of fabricating a laser pump cavity according to claim 30 further comprising the steps of:
(i) specifying a cross-sectional shape for the laser pump cavity; (j) core-drilling the laser pump cavity to extract the core and surrounding cladding material to provide a cored laser pump cavity; (k) grinding and polishing the cored laser pump cavity until the cored laser pump cavity has the specified cross-sectional shape.
- 34. The method of fabricating a laser pump cavity according to claim 33 further comprising the step of:
(l) coating the outer surface of the cored laser pump cavity with one or more anti-reflective coatings, one or more highly reflective coatings, or both anti-reflective and highly reflective coatings.
- 35. The method of fabricating a laser pump cavity according to claim 29 wherein the core material slab comprises doped yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 36. The method of fabricating a laser pump cavity according to claim 29 wherein each cladding material slab comprises yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 37. A laser pump cavity comprising:
a laser rod having a longitudinal axis and a first end and a second end, the laser having a cross-section with one or more flat sides, the one or more flat sides being optically flat along the longitudinal axis; and one or more cladding material slabs each having a least one optically flat surface, the each one of the or more flat sides of the laser rod being diffusion-bonded to the optically flat surface of at least one of the one or more cladding materials slabs.
- 38. The laser pump cavity of claim 37, wherein the cladding material slabs completely surround the laser rod along the longitudinal axis of the laser rod
- 39. The laser pump cavity of claim 37 wherein the laser rod comprises doped yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 40. The laser pump cavity of claim 37 wherein the cladding material slabs comprise doped or undoped yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 41. A method of designing a laser pump cavity comprising the steps of:
specifying a cross-sectional shape for a core of a laser rod, the cross-sectional shape having one or more substantially flat sides; providing a laser rod with the specified cross-sectional shape, the laser rod having a longitudinal axis and each substantially flat side of the one or more flat sides extending along the longitudinal axis; making at least one flat side of the laser rod optically flat; providing one or more cladding material slabs, each cladding material slab having at least one optically flat side; and diffusion bonding the optically flat side of one or more cladding material slabs to each one of the optically flat sides of the laser rod.
- 42. The method of claim 41 wherein the one or more cladding material slabs surround the laser rod along its longitudinal axis.
- 43. The method of claim 41 wherein the laser rod comprises doped yttrium aluminum garnet.
- 44. The method of claim 41 wherein the cladding material slabs comprise doped or undoped yttrium aluminum garnet.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present document is related to and claims priority from the copending and commonly assigned patent application document entitled: “Diffusion Bonded Pump Cavity,” Ser. No. 60/348,416, filed on Jan. 10, 2002. The entire contents of the related application No. 60/348,416 are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60348416 |
Jan 2002 |
US |