JP2543739Y2 - Linearly polarized gas laser tube - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a linearly polarized gas laser tube, and more particularly to a face plate holding structure thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Linearly polarized gas laser tubes are mainly used for academic research and industrial use.
It is used as a light source for mass-produced products such as a scanner such as a barcode reader of an OS system, and a large amount of demand is expected in the future. A linearly polarized gas laser tube used for a scanner or the like is called an internal mirror type, and a pair of laser mirrors forming a laser tube and a resonator have an integrated structure.
The structure has excellent operability.

In a linearly polarized gas laser tube, it is necessary to insert a glass face plate inside the laser tube so as to extend the central axis of the laser thin tube in order to obtain linearly polarized light output. In the internal mirror type laser tube, the glass face plate is held inside the laser tube.Therefore, depending on the holding method or manufacturing method, the glass face plate may be distorted or glass dust may be generated, thereby adversely affecting the optical properties of the glass face plate. Had a tendency to exert.

In order to obtain an output of linearly polarized light, a glass face plate is installed with an inclination so as to have a Brewster angle. FIG. 4 shows an example of an installation structure of a conventional glass face plate for an internal mirror type linearly polarized gas laser tube. The figure shows
The side having the glass face plate among the ends of the laser tube is shown. The end of the laser tube main body 41 is inclined at a Brewster angle, and the glass face plate 42 is adhered to the inclined surface to form a Brewster window. Further, a tube 43 having an end face inclined at Brewster's angle is bonded to the glass face plate 42. A mirror 44 is arranged on the opposite side of the tube 43 so as to be perpendicular to the tube axis.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of a conventional installation structure of a glass face plate, which is an example of a gas laser tube having a metal enclosing dish 45. The glass face plate 42 is a metal enclosing dish 45
, And both ends thereof are held by a pair of supports 46, 46 'so that the glass face plate 42 has a Brewster angle. The support 46 'is welded to the metal enclosing dish 45 in advance, and the other support 46 has a structure in which one end is in contact with the mirror 44 to hold the glass face plate 42.

[0006]

In the example shown in FIG. 4, it is necessary to incline both end faces to which the glass face plates are to be bonded at a Brewster angle, which makes the production difficult and increases the production cost. Further, it is necessary to join the glass face plate and the gas laser tube in order to maintain the airtightness in the laser tube. For this reason, there are problems that it is difficult to maintain airtightness and distortion remains on the glass face plate.

In the example shown in FIG. 5, the point that the glass face plate is distorted when the glass face plate is pressed by the supporter, and that a part of the glass face plate is subjected to an external impact or during the manufacturing and assembly. There were problems such as chipping and glass dust, which affected the output of the laser tube.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A linearly polarized gas laser tube according to the present invention has a glass face plate and a support composed of four members for holding the glass face plate at an angle, and a box constituting the support. A glass face plate is inserted between the mold member and the plate member, and the box-shaped member and the plate member are pressed and held and fixed by a pair of U-shaped members. Thereby, the movement of the glass face plate is suppressed, and the stress applied to the glass face plate is dispersed, so that the occurrence of distortion can be suppressed.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an internal mirror type linearly polarized gas laser tube showing one embodiment of the present invention. The gas laser tube includes a pair of mirrors 2 installed at both ends on the central axis of the envelope 4, a laser thin tube 6, a cathode 5 installed along the inner wall surface of the envelope 4, an anode 8, and a glass face plate. 1.

By applying a high DC voltage between the cathode 5 and the anode 8, a discharge is generated in the laser tube 6 to generate a laser medium. The mirrors 2 installed at both ends of the laser tube constitute an optical resonator through the central axis of the laser tube 6, and laser oscillation is obtained by resonating the laser medium by electric discharge. In order to oscillate the output of linearly polarized light, the glass face plate 1 is inserted on the center axis of the laser thin tube 6 and is held obliquely with respect to the center axis of the laser tube.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a holding portion of the glass face plate 1 of FIG. The U-shaped member 1 is attached to the support base 14 on the inner surface of the enclosing dish 9 joined to the left end of the envelope 4 of the gas laser tube.
0 is welded. The glass face plate 1 is inserted into the concave portion of the box-shaped member 12, and is further pressed by the plate 13. The box-shaped member 12 and the plate 13 are in contact with the glass face plate 1 and are in contact with each other. The box-shaped member 12 is a U-shaped member 1
0, and the U-shaped member 11 is
Inserted so as to be in contact with 3. The support base 14, the U-shaped members 10, 11, the box-shaped member 12, and the plate 13 are provided with a transmission hole 1 on the central axis of the laser tube for transmitting laser light.
5 is open.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the left end of the laser tube of FIG. The glass face plate 1 is surrounded by the box-shaped member 12 and the plate 13, and is fixed inside the box-shaped member 12 and the plate 13. Furthermore, the horizontal movement of the glass face plate 1 is suppressed by the plate 13 and the box-shaped member 12 coming into contact with the enclosing tray 9. In addition, the U-shaped members 10 and 11 are in contact with the box-shaped member 12 and the plate 13 at the protrusions 16, respectively, so that the vertical movement of the glass face plate is also suppressed.

According to the present invention, U-shaped members 10 and 11 are provided.
Is not in direct contact with the glass face plate 1, the stress generated for holding the glass face plate is dispersed, and it is possible to suppress the occurrence of distortion of the glass face plate.

The U-shaped members 10 and 11, which are the support members for the glass face plate, may have different open surfaces. The same effect can be obtained by processing a cylindrical member or a square column member. Further, the box-shaped member 1
2, the arrangement of the plate members 13 may be reversed.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, the glass face plate, the plate material for fixing the glass face plate, and the box-shaped member are inserted between the U-shaped members so that the glass face plate is externally applied to the glass face plate. This has the effect of dispersing stress and maintaining the optical properties of the glass face plate without impairing it. Further, since the glass face plate is fixed between the plate material and the box-shaped member, there is an effect that the impact resistance can be obtained without impairing the optical characteristics of the glass face plate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an internal mirror type linearly polarized gas laser tube showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the glass face plate holding unit of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a left end of the laser tube of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a left end portion of a laser tube showing an example of a conventional technique.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a left end portion of a laser tube showing another example of the prior art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass surface plate 2 Mirror 3 Low melting point glass 4 Enclosure 5 Cathode 6 Laser thin tube 7 Cathode introduction rod 8 Anode 9 Enclosure dish 10, 11 U-shaped member 12 Box-shaped member 13 Plate material 14 Support base 15 Transmission hole 16 Projection

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A linearly polarized gas laser tube comprising a pair of mirrors facing each other, a thin laser tube, a glass face plate, and a support for tilting and holding the glass face plate, wherein the support is fixed so as to sandwich the glass face plate. A linearly-polarized gas laser tube comprising: a box-shaped member and a plate member to be formed; and a U-shaped member that contacts and holds the plate member and the box-shaped member so as to press them.