Patent Application
20160233640
The present disclosure relates, generally, to lasers and, more specifically, to flat-folded ceramic slab lasers.
In waveguide resonators, the resonator walls influence the propagation of a laser beam and shape its mode, to a certain extent. A waveguide resonator may be defined as having a Fresnel number (NF=a2/(λL), where a is half of the resonator aperture, λ is the wavelength of the laser beam, and L is the resonator length) that is less than 0.5. One advantage of using a waveguide resonator to form a laser beam is that it allows a decrease in the transverse dimensions of the laser beam inside the waveguide. Smaller transverse dimensions permit an increase in the diffusive cooling efficiency of a laser gas bounded by the waveguide by allowing efficient transportation of waste heat to the walls of the waveguide resonator. With such efficient cooling, the plasma temperature may be lowered, thereby increasing gain, and the pressure of the laser gas may be increased. In sum, waveguide resonators may lead to higher power per volume of laser gas and faster optical response to radio frequency (RF) pulses of pump energy.
“Slab” lasers take advantage of efficient cooling in a waveguide axis of the resonator, while allowing the other axis of the resonator to behave with free-space characteristics. Power can be coupled out of the laser cavity by designing the resonator to be unstable in the free-space direction of the slab waveguide. By way of example, the resonator of the slab laser may take the form of a negative or positive branch unstable resonator (the negative branch design being more popular, for alignment stability reasons). In a negative branch unstable resonator, light is coupled out of the laser cavity by allowing recirculating energy bouncing between mirrors of the resonator to “walk off” an edge of one end mirror.
The power output of a slab laser may be increased by making the slab waveguide wider (along its free-space direction), within limits imposed by the physical structure of the laser and/or by the required quality of the beam to be emitted. The power output of a slab laser may also be increased by making the slab waveguide longer (along the length of the resonator), which may be advantageous when considering the spatial and longitudinal modes. However, simply increasing the length of a laser body may be undesirable in the market and/or prohibitively expensive with a ceramic body.
The present invention may comprise one or more of the following features and/or one or more of the features recited in the appended claims and/or any combinations thereof.
According to one aspect, a laser may comprise a ceramic body defining a chamber containing a laser gas. The chamber may comprise a first slab waveguide section extending along a first axis, a second slab waveguide section extending along a second axis, and third slab waveguide section extending along a third axis. The first and second axes may be parallel to one another, the third axis may be perpendicular to both the first and second axes, and respective first ends of the first and second slab waveguide sections may be positioned adjacent opposite ends of the third slab waveguide section. The laser may further comprise a first end mirror positioned at a second end of the first slab waveguide section that is opposite the first end of the first slab waveguide section, a second end mirror positioned at a second end of the second slab waveguide section that is opposite the first end of the second slab waveguide section, a first fold mirror positioned near an intersection of the first and third axes at a 45-degree angle to both the first and third axes, and a second fold mirror positioned near an intersection of the second and third axes at a 45-degree angle to both the second and third axes, such that the first, second, and third slab waveguide sections waveguide recirculating light that is polarized orthogonal to a plane defined by the first, second, and third axes.
In some embodiments, each of the first, second, and third slab waveguide sections may exhibit free-space characteristics in the plane defined by the first, second, and third axes. Each of the first, second, and third slab waveguide sections may exhibit waveguide characteristics in a direction perpendicular to the plane defined by the first, second, and third axes. Each of the first, second, and third slab waveguide sections may be partially bounded by ceramic walls of the ceramic body that extend parallel to the plane defined by the first, second, and third axes. The ceramic walls of the ceramic body that extend parallel to the plane defined by the first, second, and third axes may function as waveguides.
In some embodiments, the laser may further comprise a plurality of electrodes positioned outside of the ceramic body, where the plurality of electrodes are configured to excite portions of the laser gas through the ceramic body when an excitation signal is applied to the plurality of electrodes. The plurality of electrodes may be positioned such that only portions of the laser gas in the first and second slab waveguide sections are excited when the excitation signal is applied to the plurality of electrodes. The plurality of electrodes may be positioned such that portions of the laser gas in the third slab waveguide section are not excited when the excitation signal is applied to the plurality of electrodes. The plurality of electrodes may be positioned such that portions of the laser gas between the first and second fold mirrors are not excited when the excitation signal is applied to the plurality of electrodes. The ceramic body and the plurality of electrodes may be supported within an airtight enclosure formed of a non-ceramic material.
In some embodiments, the first and second end mirrors form an unstable negative branch resonator. A focus of the unstable negative branch resonator may be positioned between the first and second fold mirrors. The focus of the unstable negative branch resonator may be positioned at a midpoint between the first and second fold mirrors.
In some embodiments, a radius of a reflective surface of the first end mirror may be smaller than a radius of a reflective surface of the second end mirror. The second slab waveguide section may extend along the second axis a greater distance than the first slab waveguide section extends along the first axis. A first distance between the first end mirror and the first fold mirror may be smaller than a second distance between the second end mirror and the second fold mirror.
In some embodiments, the ceramic body may be formed of a material selected from the group consisting of Al2O3, BeO, and AlN. The laser gas may be a mixture comprising CO2.
According to another aspect, a laser may comprise a ceramic body defining a chamber containing a laser gas. The chamber may comprise a first slab waveguide section extending along a first axis and a second slab waveguide section extending along a second axis. The first and second slab waveguide sections may each exhibit free-space characteristics in a plane defined by the first and second axes and waveguide characteristics in a direction perpendicular to the plane defined by the first and second axes. The laser may further comprise a fold mirror positioned near an intersection of the first and second axes. A first angle between the first axis and a mirror axis that is perpendicular to a reflective surface of the fold mirror may be greater than 35 degrees and less than 55 degrees, and a second angle between the second axis and the mirror axis may be greater than 35 degrees and less than 55 degrees. As such, the first and second slab waveguide sections are configured to waveguide recirculating light that is polarized orthogonal to the plane defined by the first and second axes.
The concepts described in the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the accompanying figures. For simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference labels may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.
While the concepts of the present disclosure are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific exemplary embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the concepts of the present disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
Referring to
In particular, the laser 10 includes a ceramic body 12 defining a chamber containing a laser gas. In the illustrative embodiment, the ceramic body 12 is formed of Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3, also referred to in the art as “Alumina”). In other embodiments, the ceramic body 12 may be formed of another ceramic material, such as Beryllium Oxide (BeO) or Aluminum Nitride (AlN), by way of example. In still other embodiments, it is contemplated that the body of the laser 10 may be formed of another suitable dielectric material, such as certain types of glass or glass ceramics. In the illustrative embodiment of
In the illustrative embodiment, the laser gas contained in the chamber defined by the ceramic body 12 is a mixture comprising Carbon Dioxide (CO2) as well as other gases. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that, in other embodiments, another suitable gas or mixture of gases may be used in the laser 10. In the illustrative embodiment, the ceramic body 12, together with other components of the laser 10 (e.g., mirror mounts), forms an airtight, or vacuum-sealed, enclosure containing the laser gas. In other embodiments, however, the ceramic body 12 may be contained within another airtight enclosure (e.g., made of a non-ceramic material, such as metal).
As shown in
Each of the slab waveguide sections 14, 16, 18 are partially bounded by ceramic walls of the ceramic body 12 that extend parallel to a plane defined by the axes 20, 22, 24 (e.g., the plane of
The laser 10 also includes a pair of end mirrors 26, 28 that form a resonator (via reflections by the two fold mirrors 32, 34) in the chamber defined by the ceramic body 12. The end mirror 26 is positioned at an end of the slab waveguide section 14 that is opposite the end of the slab waveguide section 14 adjacent the slab waveguide section 18. Similarly, the end mirror 28 is positioned at an end of the slab waveguide section 16 that is opposite the end of the slab waveguide section 16 adjacent the slab waveguide section 18. As shown in
As mentioned above, the illustrative embodiment of laser 10 also includes a number of fold mirrors 32, 34, which serve to optically connect the slab waveguide sections 14, 16, 18. The fold mirrors 32, 34 are illustratively embodied as flat mirrors, as shown in
As noted above, this flat folding of the resonator of the laser 10 is uniquely made possible due to the slab waveguide sections 14, 16, 18 being defined by the ceramic body 12. While some prior art designs have attempted to utilize folding of slab waveguide resonators to achieve compactness of the laser body, these designs typically employ fold mirrors that reflect the cavity flux at near normal angles (generally, less than 15 degrees from normal incidence). At such low angles, the fold mirrors reflect both “S” polarization (S-Pol) and “P” polarization (P-Pol) of the cavity flux nearly equally well. In contrast, fold mirrors used at 45 degrees (from normal incidence) will reflect S-Pol with higher reflectivity than P-Pol. For clarity, when light reflects off a metal surface at an angle greater than 0 degrees (from normal incidence), light waves that have their electric fields oriented in the plane of reflection (i.e., P-Pol) will have greater losses than light waves that have their electric fields oriented perpendicular to the plane of reflection (i.e., S-Pol). This difference in reflectivity is very pronounced at angles around 45 degrees and greater (see
In contrast to metal waveguides, dielectric materials (e.g., ceramics) have the ability to waveguide light in either S-Pol or P-Pol with substantially equal efficiency. As such, a slab waveguide in which the waveguide walls are formed from a ceramic material (e.g., Al2O3) will not prefer one polarization of light relative to another.
As the slab waveguide sections 14, 16, 18 of the laser 10 are defined by the ceramic body 12 (and, thus, waveguide both S-Pol and P-Pol with substantially equal efficiency), the resonator folds of the laser 10 can be kept in the same plane even with the fold mirrors 32, 34 oriented at 45 degrees from each of the axes 20, 22, 24. As discussed above, such an arrangement would not be optically efficient if the slab waveguide included one or more metal waveguide walls. Having the slab waveguide sections 14, 16, 18 oriented in the same plane (as in the illustrative embodiment of laser 10) allows for a simpler resonator structure that is easier to manufacture and easier to cool during operation. Additionally, the S-Pol reflection preference of the fold mirrors 32, 34 oriented at 45 degrees to normal incidence will select the polarization orientation of the cavity. In particular, a laser beam 30 reflected by the fold mirrors 32, 34 will be polarized orthogonal to the plane of the slab waveguide sections 14, 16, 18 (i.e., the plane defined by the axes 20, 22, 24). With the laser beam 30 polarized in this manner, beam mixing of multiple lasers 10 could optionally be achieved using the methods taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,166, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Referring now to
Referring now to
While certain illustrative embodiments have been described in detail in the figures and the foregoing description, such an illustration and description is to be considered as exemplary and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only illustrative embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the disclosure are desired to be protected. There are a plurality of advantages of the present disclosure arising from the various features of the apparatus, systems, and methods described herein. It will be noted that alternative embodiments of the apparatus, systems, and methods of the present disclosure may not include all of the features described yet still benefit from at least some of the advantages of such features. Those of ordinary skill in the art may readily devise their own implementations of the apparatus, systems, and methods that incorporate one or more of the features of the present disclosure.
