JP2827680B2 - Metal vapor laser device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a metal vapor laser device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views showing a conventional metal vapor laser device shown in "Excitation Process of Copper Vapor Laser" in the Research Results Report Meeting of the Laser Technology Research Institute, 1988. In the figure, (1) is the cathode terminal, (2) is the anode terminal,
(3) is a cathode, (4) is an anode, and (5) is an inner tube in which a discharge is formed, and has a circular cross section. (6) is a heat insulator that supports the inner pipe (5) and suppresses heat loss in the radial direction.
(7) is an outer tube that encloses the inner tube (5) and the heat insulating material (6) for hermetic sealing, (8) is a window provided at both ends of the container (9) for extracting laser light, and (9) is a container And the inside is kept in a vacuum.
A part of the container (9) is a ceramic sleeve (9a),
(3) (4) is insulated. (10) is a solid metal medium such as a copper pellet that generates metal vapor, and (11) is a sealing member for hermetic sealing for filling an inert gas.

Next, the operation will be described. 3 Te placed <br/>, when a pulse voltage between the cathode terminal (1) and the anode terminal (2) is applied, a pulse discharge is generated between the cathode (3) and an anode (4) Then, a discharge is formed inside the inner tube (5). Then
The heat generated by the discharge is conducted to the inner tube (5),
The temperature of the inner pipe (5) rises due to the action of vacuum insulation in the heat insulating material (6) surrounding the container and the container (9). Along with this, the inner tube
(5) The metal medium (10) placed inside is melted, and metal vapor such as copper vapor necessary for causing laser oscillation is obtained. In this state, the application of the pulse voltage excites the metal vapor to cause a population inversion, and if an optical resonator (not shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 ) is installed outside the windows 8 at both ends,
Laser light is obtained through the window (8).

[0004] In the metal vapor laser device having the above structure,
In order to increase the laser output, it is necessary to increase the capacity of the laser medium according to the scaling law. In order to increase the capacity, an increase in the cross-sectional area by lengthening or expanding the diameter of the discharge tube is used as a means. However, in the case of lengthening,
In order to increase the electric energy required for excitation by increasing the electric field, it is necessary to increase the applied voltage. For this reason, it is necessary to increase the voltage of the power supply and withstand voltage technology of the equipment. On the other hand, it is not necessary to increase the voltage in the means by enlarging the diameter.

[0005]

Since the conventional metal vapor laser apparatus is constructed as described above, the distance from the wall becomes long at the center of the cross section of the tube, and the gas temperature tends to increase. As a result, the number of particles in the lower level that hinders laser oscillation increases, and the number of collisions with the particle walls for relaxation from the lower level to the ground level decreases, making oscillation difficult. was there.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a metal vapor laser device in which the gas temperature at the center of the cross section of the tube is kept low and oscillation is facilitated.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A metal vapor laser device according to the present invention is a metal medium for generating an inert gas and a metal vapor.
The inner tube in which is sealed is placed inside the outer tube with heat insulating material on the inner surface.
Be placed, placing a pair of electrodes on both sides of the upper Symbol inner tube, a pulse voltage is applied between the two electrodes to ionize the inert gas, excites the metal vapor atoms ionized electron energy In the metal vapor laser device for generating a laser beam, the inner tube has a flat cross-sectional shape.
The cross-sectional shape of the electrodes provided at both ends of the tube is the same as that of the inner tube.
The same as the cross-sectional shape, and furthermore, the inner tube and the outer tube
The part of the insulation that has a short distance between
It is made of a material that has a higher heat insulating effect than the heat insulating material.
You.

[0008]

According to the metal vapor laser device of the present invention, the cross section of the inner tube is made flat, so that the distance from the center of the inner tube to the wall surface of the inner tube becomes shorter. Keep it low. Further, since the distance between the central portion and the wall surface is short, the number of lower-level particles is reduced, and laser oscillation is facilitated.

[0009]

[Embodiment 1] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 12 denotes an inner pipe having a cross section formed in a race track shape. As shown in FIG. 2, the distance between one inner wall surface is smaller than the distance between the other inner wall surfaces. In this case, the cross-sectional shape may be an elliptical or rectangular flat shape. 13 is a cathode and 14 is an anode. Cathode 13
The cross section of the anode 14 has the same shape as that of the inner tube 12 and is connected by a butt portion.

Hereinafter, the operation will be described. 1 and 2, when the cross-sectional area of the pipe is enlarged, the cross-sectional shape of the pipe is made flat such as a race track, and the shortest distance from a point on the center axis of the cross section to the wall surface is set shorter than that of the circular cross section. I do. Thereby, the gas temperature in the central portion is kept low. Since the distance to the wall surface is short, relaxation is promoted, so that the number of lower-level particles is reduced, and laser oscillation at the center becomes easy. Therefore, an increase in laser output is obtained. Further, since the frequency is easily relaxed, the frequency can be increased and the interval between each pulse can be shortened, so that a higher frequency can be achieved. The non-uniformity of heat insulation due to the deformed tube can be improved by inserting a heat-insulating material with high heat-insulating effect in the area where the heat-insulating distance is short in the circumferential direction, or by using a heat-insulating material structure that matches the shape of the discharge tube It is possible.

[0011]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the cross-sectional shape of the inner tube is made flat, the distance from the central portion to the wall surface is shortened, and the number of lower level particles is reduced. The laser oscillation becomes easy in the portion. Further, the same as the inner tube cross-section a cross-sectional shape of the electrode, the further, the inner tube and the outer
The above insulation at the part where the distance to the pipe is short is longer
Use a material with a higher thermal insulation effect than the thermal insulation material
Laser beam effectively over the entire flat section of the inner tube.
The inner tube is a deformed tube
Nevertheless, the effect of uniform heat insulation is obtained.
You.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a metal vapor laser device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional metal vapor laser device.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Outer tube 12 Inner tube 13 Cathode 14 Anode

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-47-13180 (JP, A) JP-A-55-80382 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01S 3/032 H01S 3/227

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A metal medium for producing an inert gas and a metal vapor.
The inner tube bets is sealed, the outer tube having a heat insulating material on the inner surface
And placed, placing a pair of electrodes on both sides of the inner tube, a pulse voltage is applied between the upper Symbol the electrodes to ionize the inert gas, the ionized electron energy in the metal vapor atoms In the metal vapor laser device that generates a laser beam by being excited, the inner tube has a flat cross section,
The cross-sectional shape of the electrodes provided at both ends is the same as that of the inner tube.
The cross-sectional shape is the same, and between the inner pipe and the outer pipe
The heat insulating material in the part where the distance is short is
It is made of a material that has a higher heat insulating effect than the above heat insulating material
Metal vapor laser apparatus characterized by.