Single focus backward Raman laser
US5272717A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 17, 1992 |
| Grant date | Dec 21, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 17, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S3/305
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A single focus backward Raman laser that is a compact, efficient apparatus for converting light at a first wavelength provided by a pump laser to light at a Raman-shifted wavelength. The laser is comprised of a gas cell, two lenses, a feedback mirror, an optical isolator, and a dichroic mirror, and the gas cell contains a Raman gas medium. The Raman gas medium may be methane, hydrogen, or deuterium, for example. The two lenses bring the pump and Raman light to a single focus in the gas cell and also recollimate the light after it exits the cell. The optical isolator is used to prevent the backward-scattered pump light from reentering the pump laser. The dichroic mirror is used to reflect out the backward-scattered Raman light, while transmitting the pump laser light. The present laser has a much improved beam divergence and is much less sensitive to optical misalignments than conventional Raman half-resonator designs. The present laser is also less complex and is more compact than a multiple focus backward Raman laser, with substantially identical Raman conversion efficiency and beam divergence. The present laser is adapted to replace the Raman half-resonator and the multiple focus…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.