JP2003110171A - Gas laser oscillator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser oscillator which keeps a mirror angle stable and prevents the contamination of a mirror and thereby obtains a stable laser output at all times by optimizing the shape of a laser gas introduction port. SOLUTION: By forming the laser gas introduction port from a plurality of slits disposed on the same circumference of a circle, a smooth gas flow without irregular motion can be formed and therefore foreign matters such as electrode powder in the neighborhood is not flung up, preventing the contamination of a reflecting mirror.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gas laser oscillator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 shows a schematic structure of an optical bench portion in a conventional laser oscillator.

The terminal mirror 101 is a terminal mirror mirror holding section 10.
Held by two.

Since the mirror resonates during reflection, the centers of the optical axes of the output mirror (not shown) and the terminal mirror 101 need to coincide with each other.

In order to adjust the optical axis, the output mirror side mirror holder (not shown) and the terminal mirror mirror holder 102 are
An angle adjusting mechanism 103 is provided so that the angle can be adjusted.

The gas introducing section 104 is connected to the connecting pipe 10.
5 and the copper ring 106, the laser gas is introduced from the connecting tube 105 into the discharge-free tube 107 through the round hole formed in the copper ring 106 and supplied to the discharge tube (not shown).

[0007]

The problems of such a conventional laser oscillator will be described.

When the laser gas inlet is one or more round holes, a turbulent flow of gas occurs near the inlet and the gas is used for a long time. The mirror may be contaminated and the laser output may be reduced.

The gap between the component forming the laser gas inlet and the peripheral component must be minimized in order to effectively form the gas flow. However, the contact between them causes an external force to act on the reflecting mirror holding member to cause reflection. The beam quality may be deteriorated by slightly moving the mirror angle.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention according to claim 1 provides a laser gas inlet for introducing a laser gas in the vicinity of a reflecting mirror, and the laser gas inlet is provided on the same circumference. It is a gas laser oscillating device constituted by a plurality of arranged slits.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a schematic configuration of a gas laser oscillator. Hereinafter, the gas laser oscillator will be described with reference to FIG.

In the figure, 1 is a discharge tube made of a dielectric material such as glass, and 2 and 3 are electrodes provided around the discharge tube. A power source 4 is connected to the electrodes. Reference numeral 5 is a discharge space in the discharge tube 1 sandwiched between the electrodes 2 and 3. Reference numeral 6 denotes a terminal mirror that is almost total reflection, and 7 is an output mirror that is partial reflection. The terminal mirror 6 and the output mirror 7 are fixedly arranged at both ends of the discharge space 5 to form an optical resonator. A laser beam 8 is output from the output mirror 7. Arrow 9 indicates the direction in which the laser gas flows,
It is circulated in the axial flow type gas laser oscillator at a pressure of about 100 to 200 Torr. Reference numeral 10 is a laser gas flow path, 11 and 12 are heat exchangers for lowering the temperature of the laser gas whose temperature has risen due to the discharge in the discharge space 5 and the operation of the blower, and 13 is a blower for circulating the laser gas. A gas flow is obtained in the discharge space 5. The electrodes 2 and 3, the output mirror 7 and the terminal mirror 6 are insulated by a non-discharge tube 19.

In the laser oscillator constructed as described above, the laser gas sent from the blower 13 passes through the laser gas passage 10 and is introduced into the discharge tube 1. In this state, discharge is generated in the discharge space 5 from the electrodes 2 and 3 connected to the power supply 4. The laser gas in the discharge space 5 is excited by obtaining this discharge energy, and the excited laser gas becomes a resonance state in the optical resonator formed by the terminal mirror 6 and the output mirror 7, and the laser beam 8 is emitted from the output mirror 7. Is output. This laser beam 8 is used for applications such as laser processing.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic structure of an optical bench portion in the laser oscillator.

The output mirror 5 is held by the output mirror side mirror holding portion 15a, and the terminal mirror 6 is held by the terminal mirror side mirror holding portion 15b.

Since the mirror resonates at the time of reflection, the output mirror 7
And the center of the optical axis of the terminal mirror 6 must match.

In order to adjust the optical axis, the output mirror side mirror holding unit 15a has an output mirror side mirror adjusting mechanism 16a, and the terminal mirror mirror holding unit 15b has a terminal mirror mirror adjusting mechanism 1.
6b is provided so that the angle can be adjusted.

The gas introducing section 14 is composed of a connecting pipe 18 and a copper ring 19, and the laser gas is supplied to the connecting pipe 1.
8 is introduced into the non-discharge tube 20 through the slit 21 formed in the copper ring 19 and supplied to the discharge tube 1.

The copper ring 19 is a non-discharge tube 2 made of a dielectric material.
0 It is inserted so as to be in close contact with the inner surface. Further, the copper ring 19 is an output mirror side mirror holding portion 15a for holding a mirror.
It is fixed so as to be in close contact with. Further, the output mirror side mirror holding portion 15a, the copper ring 19 and the non-discharge tube 20 are connected in close contact with each other, and the structure is such that the laser gas does not leak from this portion.

By making this opening into a slit shape as shown in FIG. 2, the laser gas uniformly enters the inside of the copper ring 19 from the circumference thereof, and the gas in the vicinity of the mirror does not disturb the gas flow in the copper ring 19. The pressure can be increased to prevent impurities such as electrode powder generated in the laser resonance space from flying to the mirror.

Further, by forming the copper ring as shown in FIG. 2 into a slit shape, the output mirror side mirror holding portion 15a,
The external force applied to the terminal mirror holding portion 15b can be easily absorbed.

As described above, gas turbulence near the laser gas inlet can be prevented, and foreign matter such as powder of the electrode can be prevented from being rolled up when used for a long period of time, and contamination of the reflecting mirror can be reduced. The laser gas can be supplied to the discharge space without applying an external force to the reflector holding member.

As described above, the mirror can be prevented from being soiled, and a high-quality laser beam can be provided for a long period of time.

[0025]

According to the present invention, the laser gas inlet is constituted by a plurality of slits arranged on the same circumference, so that the gas flow is formed in an orderly manner without turbulence, and foreign matter such as electrode powder in the vicinity is not rolled up, It is possible to prevent the reflection mirror from becoming dirty.

In the arrangement of the slits, the two slits facing each other on the circumference are arranged on two or more different circumferences adjacent to each other so as to be offset from each other by a constant angle, so that the laser gas introduction port is formed. It is possible to impart flexibility to the component to be formed and to prevent fine movement of the angle of the reflecting mirror without exerting an external force on the reflecting mirror holding member even when it comes into contact with peripheral components.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a laser oscillator.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical bench portion of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical bench portion in a conventional laser oscillator.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 discharge tube 2 electrodes 3 electrodes 4 power supply 5 discharge space 6 terminal mirror 7 output mirror 8 laser beam 9 Direction of laser gas flow 10 Laser gas flow path 11 heat exchanger 12 heat exchanger 13 blower 14 Laser gas inlet 15a Output mirror side mirror holder 15b Terminal mirror mirror holder 16a Output mirror side mirror adjustment mechanism 16b Terminal mirror mirror adjustment mechanism 18 connecting tubes 19 copper ring 20 non-discharge tube 21 slits

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Masayoshi Hashikawa             1006 Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric             Sangyo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Nobuo Niino             1006 Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric             Sangyo Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 5F071 DD07 DD08 EE02 JJ05

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of reflecting mirrors including a partial reflecting mirror,
A gas laser oscillating device for introducing laser gas from a laser gas introducing port provided in the vicinity of a reflecting mirror, wherein the gas laser oscillating device comprises a plurality of slits arranged on the same circumference as the laser gas introducing port. 2. The laser oscillating device according to claim 1, wherein in the arrangement of the slits, two slits facing each other on the circumference are arranged on two or more different circumferences close to each other with a certain angle offset from each other. .