JP3259161B2 - Gas laser oscillation device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an axial flow type gas laser oscillating device, and more particularly to a highly reliable gas laser oscillating device which is free from a change in an optical mode and a decrease in laser output when the device is started.

[0002]

BACKGROUND ART Hereinafter, a conventional axial-flow type laser oscillator will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4 , a discharge tube 101 is made of a dielectric material such as glass, and has metal electrodes 102,
103 is provided inside the discharge tube 101. The high-voltage power supply 104 is connected to the metal electrodes 102 and 103, and applies a voltage of, for example, 30 kV to the metal electrodes 102 and 103.
The voltage is applied between the electrodes 103 to excite the discharge of the laser gas. The partial reflection mirror unit 105 and the total reflection mirror unit 106 are fixedly arranged at both ends of the discharge tube 101,
An optical resonator is formed. The laser gas is circulated in the axial-flow type laser device by the blower 107 through the air supply pipe 108. The heat exchanger 109 is for reducing the temperature of the laser gas whose temperature has been increased by the discharge and the blower in the discharge tube 101.

The above is the configuration of the conventional axial-flow laser device, and its operation will be described below.

First, a high voltage is applied to a pair of metal electrodes 102 and 103 from a high voltage power supply 104 to generate a glow-like discharge in a discharge tube 101. The laser gas passing through the discharge tube 101 is excited by obtaining this discharge energy, and the excited laser gas is supplied to the partial reflection mirror unit 105.
And the optical resonator formed by the total reflection mirror unit 106 resonates, and the partial reflection mirror unit 105
Outputs a laser beam. This laser beam is used for applications such as laser processing.

[0005] Next, the optical bench of the axial-flow type gas laser oscillator will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5 , the optical bench includes a pipe 110, a flange 111, a partial reflection mirror unit 105, and a total reflection mirror unit 106, and the temperature is controlled with oil to stabilize the pipe 110. The oil also serves to cool the high temperature part anode block 112.

[0006]

In the optical bench of the laser oscillator having the above configuration, the oil temperature rises from the time of excitation of the apparatus to the control temperature due to electric discharge, the temperature of the pipe 110 rises, and the joint surface with the flange 111 rises. Causes a temperature non-uniformity on both sides of the flange 111 (the surface opposite to the surface in contact with the pipe 110), and the flange 111 undergoes thermal deformation.
11 or the parallelism of the mirrors of the total reflection mirror units 105 and 106 may be reduced, or the heat generated by the mirror may cause thermal deformation of the flange 111,
As a result, the parallelism of the mirror is reduced, and as a result, the optical mode is deteriorated, and the processing performance is remarkably reduced. In addition, the output stability is lowered, and stable processing cannot be performed. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve such a problem and to provide a gas laser oscillation device having no optical mode change and extremely high output stability.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided an optical system having at least a pair of mirrors to solve the above problems.
In the gas laser oscillation device having a bench , the optical device
A pair of flanges with a mirror mounted bench component
And a pipe, and a cooling channel for a cooling medium flowing through the pipe.
Branches into multiple parts, with the flange opposite to the surface that contacts the pipe.
A cooling channel through which the cooling medium flows;
Place the road so that the flange is sandwiched between the pipe and
Or, connect a heater that controls the temperature of the oil flowing through the pipe or the temperature of the flange with the flange pipe.
It is provided on the surface opposite to the surface.

[0008]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a gas laser oscillation device which emits a laser beam in an axial direction of a discharge tube on an optical bench having at least a pair of mirrors; It has a pair of flanges and a pipe with a mirror, and a cooling medium flowing through the pipe.
The cooling passage of the body is branched into multiple parts, and the flange is connected to the pipe.
A cooling channel for flowing the cooling medium is provided on the surface opposite to the surface to be cooled.
The cooling channel prevents the temperature of the flange from rising.
Control of the mirror's parallelism due to thermal deformation.
Things.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gas laser oscillating device which emits a laser beam in an axial direction of the discharge tube on an optical bench having at least a pair of mirrors, wherein a component of the optical bench is a mirror. It has a pair of flange and pipe with
The temperature of the oil flowing through the pipe and the temperature
Equipped with a heater that controls based on the temperature of the lungs
This heater is controlled to reduce the thermal deformation of the flange.
In order to maintain the parallelism of the mirror.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gas laser oscillating device which emits a laser beam in an axial direction of the discharge tube in an optical bench having at least a pair of mirrors, wherein a component of the optical bench is a mirror. has a pair of flanges and pipes fitted with cooling medium flowing through the pipe
A device that allows the body to flow through a separate system path from the cooling medium in the high-temperature section
This prevents the temperature of the flange from rising with oil at a certain temperature.
However, it also suppresses a change in the parallelism of the mirror caused by thermal deformation .

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

A feature of the first embodiment is that a pipe 1 is attached to a flange 111 in an optical bench of a conventional laser oscillator.
The oil chamber 5 serving as a cooling channel is attached to the surface opposite to the surface joined to the oil chamber 10.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an optical bench of a laser oscillator. A flange 111 is attached to a pipe 110, and an oil chamber 5 is attached to the flange 111 on a surface opposite to a joint surface with the pipe 110. ing. Therefore, a gas laser oscillation device having extremely high output stability can be obtained.

(Embodiment 2) Hereinafter, Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The second embodiment is characterized in that a pipe 1 is attached to a flange 111 in an optical bench of a conventional laser oscillator.
That is, the heater 6 is attached to the surface opposite to the joint surface with the heater 10.

FIG. 2 is a structural view of an optical bench of the laser oscillator. A flange 111 is attached to a pipe 110, and a heater 6 is attached to the flange 111 on a surface opposite to a joint surface with the pipe 110. I have. Also in this example, a gas laser oscillation device with extremely high output stability can be obtained as in the first embodiment.

Embodiment 3 Hereinafter, Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The feature of the third embodiment in the optical bench of the laser oscillator of the prior art, is characterized in that flowing the oil cooling medium oil and the high-temperature portion of the cooling medium flowing through the pipe 110 in a different line.

FIG. 3 is a structural view of an optical bench of a laser oscillator. A flange 111 is attached to a pipe 110, and the pipe 110 is a system having an oil pump 7 for a high-temperature part cooling medium and a temperature control unit 9. Unlike oil, oil controlled at a constant temperature flows in a separate system having an oil pump 8 and a temperature control unit 10. In the third embodiment, since the oil temperature is controlled to a constant temperature, the temperature of the pipe 110 increases at startup,
As a result, thermal deformation of the flange 111 does not occur.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, since the mirror unit 2 and the mirror unit 3 can be maintained in parallel, there is no change in optical mode, and a gas laser oscillation device with extremely high output stability can be provided. can get.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a gas laser oscillating device having no change in optical mode and having extremely high output stability, and exhibits an excellent effect for stable processing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a laser oscillator according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a laser oscillator according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a laser oscillator according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a conventional axial-flow laser oscillator.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the optical bench.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Flange stand 2, 3 Mirror unit 4 Spacer 5 Oil chamber (cooling channel) 6 Heater 101 Discharge tube 110 Pipe 111 Flange

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-6-204587 (JP, A) JP-A-7-231129 (JP, A) JP-A-60-147184 (JP, A) JP-A 61-204 168976 (JP, A) JP-A-60-239075 (JP, A) JP-A-58-11268 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01S 3 / 00-3 / 30

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A gas laser oscillation device having an optical bench having at least a pair of mirrors, wherein a component of the optical bench has a pair of flanges and a pipe to which a mirror is attached, and a cooling channel of a cooling medium flowing through the pipe. To
Branches into multiple parts and the flange has a surface opposite to the surface that contacts the pipe.
One cooling channel flowing the cooling medium to the surface provided with the cooling flow
A gas laser oscillating device characterized in that a path is disposed so as to sandwich a flange between the pipe and the pipe . 2. A gas laser oscillating device having an optical bench having at least a pair of mirrors, wherein the components of the optical bench have a pair of flanges and a pipe to which a mirror is attached, and an oil temperature or a flange flowing through the pipe.
The heater that controls based on the temperature of the
Gas laser oscillation device provided on the surface opposite to the surface in contact with the pump. 3. A cooling channel for a cooling medium flowing through the pipe.
Is divided into at least two parts.
The gas laser oscillation device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a cooling flow channel for flowing the gas.