JPH03109784A - Gas laser oscillator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve resistance against earthquake and insulation characteristics of an insulation tube to stabilize laser oscillation by constituting a cathode of a pair of electrode rods, an insulation plate provided on one side of the cathode rods and a trigger steel plate provided between the cathode rods on the other side. CONSTITUTION:A cathode 10 and an anode 3 are placed in parallel inside an arc tube 1 while an insulation tube 4a is placed on a surface facing the anode 3. The cathode 10 is constituted of a pair of electrode rods 10a, 10b, an insulating plate 10c provided on one side of the electrode rods, and a trigger steel plate 2b provided between the electrode rods on the other side. That is, the insulation tube 4a is fixed to the insulation plate 10c while the insulation tube 4a is made outside a region of glow discharge. Thus resistance against earthquake and insulation property can be improved and stable laser oscillation can be performed as well.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a gas laser oscillator.

(Prior Art) In FIG. 4 showing an example of a conventional gas laser oscillator,
On the load side of the pulse power supply 6 whose power supply side is connected to the power supply 8, the cathode 2 is connected to the negative voltage side and the positive electrode 8i! is connected to the other side. 3 are connected to each other.

Among these, a plurality of long V-shaped grooves 2a are formed on the surface of the cathode 2 facing the anode 3 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the figure, and a core wire 4b is provided at the axis inside the grooves 2a. Trigger electrodes 4 each made of a glass tube 4a are provided, both ends of the glass tubes 4a are supported by the ends of the cathode 2 with fixtures (not shown), and the core wire 4b is connected to the anode 3.

A peaking capacitor 5 is connected in parallel between the cathode 2 and anode 3, and the peaking capacitor 5 and the cathode 2, as well as the anode 3 and the trigger electrode 4, have a long cylindrical shape in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. The discharge tube 1 is provided in a discharge tube 1, and a gas as a gas laser medium is further sealed inside the discharge tube 1.

Now, in the gas laser oscillator configured in this way, the voltage pulse generated by the pulse power source 6 charges the peaking capacitor 5, and the discharge of this charged charge causes the surface of the groove 2a of the cathode 2 and the core wire 4b to connect. A corona discharge occurs between the grooves 2a, and the vicinity of the surface of the groove 2a becomes pre-ionized.

Subsequently, when the discharge starting voltage is reached between the cathode 2 and anode 3, a glow discharge as a main discharge occurs between the cathode 2 and anode 3, the laser gas in the discharge tube 1 is excited, and laser light is emitted. Ru.

However, in the laser oscillator configured in this way, since the trigger electrode 4 is provided near the surface of the groove 2a,
Although preliminary discharge can be generated efficiently, the cathode 2
Since the glass tube 4a is located within the main discharge area, the surface of the glass tube 4a becomes dirty due to the glow discharge and the creeping electric strength value decreases.

Furthermore, if the glow discharge becomes unstable for some reason and shifts to an instantaneous arc discharge, there is a risk that the glass tube 4a may be damaged.

Furthermore, since the core wire 4b of the trigger electrode 4 is easily broken, if the trigger electrode 4 is not firmly fixed, there is a risk of it being broken due to vibration.

Therefore, a laser oscillator shown in FIG. 5 can be considered.

In the figure, the cathode 9 is an inverted U with the opening side facing the anode 3 side.
The trigger electrode 4 is provided in the four U-shaped parts 9a close to the bottom of the recess 9a, as shown in FIG. At the end,
A net-like trigger steel plate 2b with adjacent small holes 2b1 is attached.

In a laser oscillator configured in this way, the preliminary discharge is
The main discharge occurs between the core wire 4b, the bottom surface of the four parts 9a, and the trigger mesh plate 2b, and the main discharge occurs between the trigger steel plate 2b and the anode 3, so the glass tube 4a is outside the discharge area during the main discharge.

However, in the laser oscillator configured as described above, according to the experimental results of the inventors, the preliminary discharge amount was insufficient and the transition to the main discharge was still unstable.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to obtain a gas laser oscillator that has improved earthquake resistance and dielectric strength and can perform stable laser oscillation.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means and Effects for Solving the Problems) The present invention is characterized in that a cathode and an anode are placed parallel to each other in a discharge tube, and an insulated tube with a built-in core wire is placed parallel to the surface of the cathode facing the anode. In the gas laser oscillator, the cathode is composed of a pair of electrode rods, an insulating plate provided on one side of the cathode rods, and a trigger steel plate provided between the other side of the cathode rods.
This is a gas laser oscillator that stabilizes laser oscillation by improving the earthquake resistance and insulation properties of the insulating tube.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the gas laser oscillator of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, if it overlaps with Figures 4 to 6, it will be omitted.

In FIG. 1, only the cathode IO is different from the conventional one.

That is, the cathode IO consists of electrode rods 10a and 1Ob having a substantially triangular cross section, which are arranged parallel to each other on the left and right, and the electrode rods 10a.
, a rectangular insulating plate 10c connected to the electrode rods 10b on both sides between the upper ends of the electrode rods 10b, and the electrode rods 10 on the left and right sides.
The insulating plate 1 is connected to the electrode rod 10b between the lower ends of the electrodes a and 10b.
0c, the trigger electrode 4 is constituted by a trigger wire plate 2b sandwiched between insulating plates 10c.

In the laser oscillator configured in this way, the galac tube 4
Since a is sandwiched from above and below between the trigger net plate 2b and the insulating plate 10c, it can be mechanically fixed firmly.
Even if this oscillator is mounted on a vehicle, it will not shift due to vibration.

Furthermore, since it is located on the back side of the trigger mesh plate 2b, it is not exposed to the glow discharge between the trigger steel plate 2b and the anode 3, so the surface will not deteriorate due to discharge, and in the event that the cathode lO and anode 3
Even if the interval shifts to arc discharge, there is no exposure to arc.

In addition, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 showing the main part of FIG. 1, the discharge route of the charge charged in the peaking capacitor 5 is only in the direction of the electric field E shown in FIG. 2 between the core wire 4b and the trigger screen plate 2b. Therefore, the electric field E1+E shown in FIGS. 5 and 6
Compared to the case where the current is split in two directions between the trigger mesh plate 2b and the cathode 9, the amount of discharged charge can be approximately doubled, so
The transition to glow discharge can be performed smoothly, and laser oscillation is stabilized.

Furthermore, the cross-sectional shape of the cathode 10 is as follows: electrode rods LOa, 10b
Since the insulating plate 10c and the trigger mesh plate 2b form a box shape,
It has a highly rigid structure that does not deform due to vibrations.

Incidentally, in FIGS. 2 and 6, if the permittivity of the glass tube 4a is ε, the length is Ω, the inner diameter is a, and the outer diameter is b, the equivalent volume between the core wire 4b and the surface of the glass tube 4a is ff1C. is assumed to be a concentric cylindrical capacitor, and a current commensurate with this will flow between the core wire 4b and the trigger mesh plate 2b in Fig. 2, so the steel plate in Fig. 2 is smaller than that in Fig. 6. The amount of charge flowing to 2b is doubled.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the gas laser oscillator of the present invention.

In the figure, the glass tube 7 has an oval cross section, and the core wire 7 has a rectangular plate shape. In this case, since the area of the discharge electrode increases, there is an advantage that preliminary discharge can be generated more easily.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the outer periphery of the core wire was made of a glass tube, but
Any heat-resistant, arc-resistant insulating material such as alumina, beryllia, zirconia, mica, aluminum dust, or silicon carbide may be used.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, there is provided a gas laser oscillator in which a cathode and an anode are placed parallel to each other inside a discharge tube, and an insulating tube with a built-in core wire is placed parallel to the surface of the cathode facing the anode. In this method, the cathode is composed of a pair of electrode rods, an insulating plate provided between one side of the electrode rods, and a trigger steel plate provided on the other side between the electrode rods, and the insulating tube is fixed to the insulating plate. Moreover, since the insulating tube is placed outside the glow discharge area, it is possible to obtain a gas laser oscillator that has improved earthquake resistance and insulation properties and can perform stable laser oscillation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the gas laser device of the present invention,
2 is a sectional view showing the main part of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a view showing another embodiment of the gas laser device of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a view showing a conventional gas laser device, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the main part of FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional gas laser device different from FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the main part of FIG. 5. ...Discharge tube 3...Anode 4a...Insulation tube 4b...Core wire 9...Cathode (8733)

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a gas laser oscillator in which a cathode and an anode are placed parallel to each other in a discharge tube, and an insulated tube having a core wire provided inside is placed parallel to the surface of the cathode facing the anode, the cathode is connected to an electrode rod and the electrode. An insulating plate provided on one side of the rod,
A gas laser oscillator comprising a mesh plate provided on the other side between the negative bars, and the insulating tube is provided between the insulating plate and the trigger mesh plate.