Patent · US Expired

Broadly tunable, high repetition rate solid state and dye lasers and uses thereof

US5136596A · kind A · utility

13Cited by
8References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 26, 1989
Grant dateAug 4, 1992
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 26, 2009

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01S3/1055
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

Solid state and dye lasers are described which are tunable over a wide spectral region, are operable at high repetition rate, are uniformly narrow in spectral width over the tuning range, and produce a spatially uniform, single longitudinal mode beam. In one embodiment having a simple grazing-incidence cavity, the laser comprises: (a) a longitudinal pump beam with a KiloHertz (KHz) repetition rate; (b) a resonating cavity comprising a first fixed mirror, a diffraction grating, and a second rotatable mirror; and (c) an active solid state or dye medium within the cavity. In this embodiment, (i) the pump beam is passed through the fixed mirror and directed at the active medium; (ii) the emission from the active medium strikes the grating near a grazing angle; (iii) the rotatable mirror is placed at a first order diffraction position from the grating and reflects the desired wavelength radiation back into the cavity; and (iv) the output is derived from the grating at the zeroeth diffraction order.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.