JP2001053361A - Surface plate for laser device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce facility cost by enabling at least the frame of an optical surface plate to be constituted of stainless alloy, aluminum alloy, or the like which is inexpensive and is easily processed. SOLUTION: This optical surface plate 4 mounts a cavity 1, a transmission mirror 5, and a reflecting mirror 6. Here, the frame 11 for reinforcing the main body 2 of the surface plate is made into a watertight hollow structure and is constituted so that cooling water 7 (coolant) can be supplied to or discharged from the passage 11a formed within the frame 11. It is preferable that the frame 11 constituted of aluminum alloy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical surface plate for a laser device for mounting a laser component such as a solid-state laser, a gas laser, and a semiconductor laser with high output.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIGS.
In a laser oscillator such as a gas laser or a semiconductor laser, a laser medium and an excitation source are accommodated in a housing called a cavity 1, and a plate-shaped platen main body 2 whose dimensions and horizontality are processed with high accuracy is frame 3 ( The cavity 1 is positioned and installed on an optical surface plate 4 reinforced by a skeleton, and a transmission mirror 5 (partially reflection mirror) and a reflection mirror 6 (total reflection mirror) forming an optical resonator at front and rear positions of the cavity 1. )
And the laser medium is excited by an excitation source in the cavity 1 to emit light, and the light is reciprocated between the transmission mirror 5 and the reflection mirror 6 to repeatedly enter and exit the laser medium. As a result, optical resonance is caused to amplify light energy, and laser light can be oscillated via the transmission mirror 5.

Generally, in this type of laser oscillator, since the conversion efficiency of the laser is not so high with respect to the electric input supplied as the excitation energy, the excitation energy that has not contributed to the laser output is converted into heat. It is unavoidable that cooling water 7 (cooling medium) is applied to laser components such as the cavity 1, the transmission mirror 5 and the reflection mirror 6.
The water is supplied and discharged to cool the water.

That is, external pipes 8 and 9 are provided near the optical surface plate 4.
And the cooling water 7 supplied to one of the external pipes 8 is introduced into the cavity 1, the transmission mirror 5 and the reflection mirror 6 through the branch pipes 8a, 8b and 8c, and the cooling water is cooled and heated. 7
Is extracted to the other external pipe 9 through the branch pipes 9a, 9b, 9c and guided to the circulating device 10, where the cooling water 7 is cooled down to a predetermined temperature by a built-in heat exchanger or the like (not shown), and again. It circulates to the external pipe 8.

[0005]

[0005] However, in particular, 5
When a high output laser of 00 W or more is assumed, it is inevitable that the optical surface plate 4 is affected by heat even if the laser components are water-cooled, and the optical surface plate is expanded and contracted by a temperature change. Since the laser output could be adversely affected by thermal deformation of the optical base 4, the optical base 4 had to be constituted by Invar or super Invar (a kind of nickel alloy) having a low coefficient of thermal expansion. However, special alloys such as Invar and Super Invar are generally expensive and difficult to process, so that there is a problem that the equipment cost is significantly increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and at least reduces the equipment cost by making it possible to form at least a frame of an optical surface plate from a stainless steel or aluminum alloy which is inexpensive and easy to process. It is intended to be.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a frame reinforcing a main body of a platen for mounting a laser component has a water-tight hollow structure, and a flow channel formed inside the frame is cooled. An optical surface plate for a laser device, characterized in that the medium can be supplied and ejected.

Therefore, in the present invention, the frame and the platen body are cooled by flowing a cooling medium through the flow path in the frame, and the temperature change on the optical platen side due to the heat input from the laser component side is suppressed as small as possible. Therefore, it is not necessary to use a special alloy such as Invar or Super Invar having a low coefficient of thermal expansion at least for the frame, and it is possible to use a normal alloy which is inexpensive and easy to process.

Further, in the present invention, it is preferable that a communication flow path is provided for guiding a part of the cooling medium supplied to the flow path in the frame to the laser component on the platen body. For example, a cooling medium can be supplied to the laser component by using a frame constituting the optical surface plate, so that an external pipe for supplying the cooling medium to the laser component can be eliminated.

Further, in the present invention, it is preferable to provide a circulating device for circulating the cooling medium through the flow path in the frame while controlling the temperature of the cooling medium. Becomes

The frame can be made of stainless steel or aluminum alloy which is inexpensive and easy to process.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show an example of an embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals as in FIGS. 4 and 5 denote the same parts.

In this embodiment, reference numeral 11 in the figure denotes a surface plate main body 2.
The frame 11 is arranged on both sides in the width direction (vertical direction in FIG. 2) of the lower surface and reinforces the platen body 2 in the longitudinal direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 2). The frame 11 shown here is inexpensive. It is formed as a water-tight box-shaped hollow structure using a material such as stainless steel or aluminum alloy that is easy to process. Inside the frame 11, a flow path 11a for flowing the cooling water 7 from the circulation device 10 is formed. Have been.

Here, the ends of the frames 11 on one side in the longitudinal direction are connected to each other by an auxiliary frame 12 having a water-tight box-type hollow structure. One frame 1 through 12a
One channel 11a is folded back in a U-shape to the channel 11a of the other frame 11.

In the base body 2, a part of the cooling water 7 (cooling medium) supplied from the circulation device 10 to the flow path 11a in the one frame 11 is supplied to the cavity 1 or the laser component. The communication flow passages 2a, 2b, 2c are formed in the transmission mirror 5 and the reflection mirror 6, and the cooling water 7 is cooled by cooling the cavity 1, the transmission mirror 5, and the reflection mirror 6 and raising the temperature. And branch pipes 9a, 9b, 9c as in the prior art.
The cooling water 7 which is drawn out to the external pipe 9 through the flow path 11a in the other frame 11 and merges outside the surface plate main body 2 and is guided to the circulating device 10,
Is cooled to a predetermined temperature by a built-in heat exchanger or the like (not shown) and circulated again to the flow path 11a of the one frame 11.

Here, the reason why the cooling water 7 passing through the cavity 1, the transmission mirror 5, and the reflection mirror 6 is discharged to the external pipe 9 without returning to the other frame 11 is that the cooling water 7 is discharged to the external pipe 9. This is because the cooling water 7 which has cooled the reflecting mirror 6 and raised the temperature does not give heat to the optical surface plate 4, but a sufficiently large flow rate of the cooling water 7 is secured. If it is possible, the cooling water 7 having passed through the laser component may be returned into the other frame 11 by eliminating the need for the external piping 9.

Thus, the flow path 11 in one frame 11
When the cooling water 7 is supplied from the circulating device 10 to the a, the cooling water 7 flows through the inside of one frame 11 to the tip thereof, is then folded back in a U-shape via the auxiliary frame 12, and this time the inside of the other frame 11 It is returned to the circulation device 10 through the flow channel 11a, cooled by the built-in heat exchanger (not shown) to a predetermined temperature in the circulation device 10, and circulated again to the flow channel 11a of the one frame 11. , Frame 1
The substrate 1 and the platen body 2 are cooled by the cooling water 7, so that the temperature change on the optical platen 4 side due to heat input from the laser component side is suppressed as small as possible.

Therefore, at least for the frame 11, it is not necessary to use a special alloy such as Invar or Super Invar having a low coefficient of thermal expansion, and a stainless steel or aluminum alloy which is inexpensive and easy to process can be employed without any trouble. Therefore, the equipment cost can be significantly reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, in particular, a part of the cooling water 7 supplied to the flow path 11a in the frame 11 is divided into laser components on the platen body 2 through the communication flow paths 2a, 2b, 2c. Since the flow is guided, the external piping (see the external piping 8 in FIG. 4) for supplying the cooling water 7 to at least the laser component can be eliminated. , The restrictions on the arrangement of the laser components and the like accompanying the arrangement can be relaxed, and a device layout with a high degree of freedom can be realized.

Further, since the circulating device 10 for circulating the cooling water 7 to the flow path 11a in the frame 11 while controlling the temperature is provided, the cooling water 7 can be repeatedly circulated and used. An existing device provided as a conventional cooling device for laser components can be used as the device 10, so that an increase in operating costs can be avoided when the optical surface plate 4 is newly cooled.

The optical surface plate for a laser device according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is needless to say that various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0023]

According to the optical surface plate for a laser device of the present invention described above, the following various excellent effects can be obtained.

(I) The frame and the platen main body are cooled by flowing a cooling medium through the flow path in the frame, and the temperature change on the optical platen side due to heat input from the laser component side can be suppressed as small as possible. Therefore, at least for the frame, stainless steel and aluminum alloy, which are inexpensive and easy to process, can be adopted without any trouble without using special alloys such as Invar and Super Invar with low coefficient of thermal expansion. The cost can be significantly reduced.

(II) By adopting a structure provided with a communication flow path for diverting a part of the cooling medium supplied to the flow path in the frame to the laser component on the main body of the platen, at least to the laser component External piping for supplying the cooling medium can be dispensed with, thereby reducing the restriction on the arrangement of the laser components and the like accompanying the arrangement of the external piping and the branch pipe, and realizing a highly flexible device layout. be able to.

(III) By adopting a structure having a circulating device for circulating the cooling medium through the flow path in the frame while controlling the temperature of the cooling medium, the cooling medium can be repeatedly circulated and used. Can be used as existing cooling equipment for laser components, so that an increase in operating costs can be avoided when newly cooling the optical surface plate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the optical surface plate of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view of the optical surface plate of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of the optical surface plate shown in FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cavity (laser component) 2 Surface plate main body 2a, 2b, 2c Communication flow path 4 Optical surface plate 5 Transmission mirror (laser component) 6 Reflection mirror (laser component) 7 Cooling water (cooling medium) 10 Circulating device 11 Frame 11a Flow Road

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5F072 JJ05 KK06 KK24 KK30 TT01 TT13 TT14 TT16 TT18 TT28 5F073 EA15 FA26

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A frame that reinforces a main body of a platen for mounting a laser component has a watertight hollow structure, and is configured to supply and discharge a cooling medium to and from a flow path formed inside the frame. An optical surface plate for a laser device, comprising: 2. The laser according to claim 1, further comprising a communication flow path for guiding a part of the cooling medium supplied to the flow path in the frame to a laser component on the surface plate main body. Optical surface plate for equipment. 3. The optical surface plate for a laser device according to claim 1, further comprising a circulation device for circulating a cooling medium in a flow path in the frame while controlling the temperature of the cooling medium. 4. The optical surface plate for a laser device according to claim 1, wherein the frame is made of a stainless steel alloy. 5. The optical surface plate for a laser device according to claim 1, wherein the frame is made of an aluminum alloy.