JPH03237782A - Metal vapor laser equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stabilize discharge on the tip parts of electrodes, and improve laser performance, by installing the electrode of two-layered cylindrical structure on the end portion side of an inner discharge tube. CONSTITUTION:When pulse discharge is generated between a cathode 3 and an anode 4 in the atmosphere of discharge gas 15 in an inner discharge tube 5, the inside of the tube 5 is turned into a discharging state. In the case of the electrodes 3, 4 of two layered cylindrical structure, a high potential point (a) is generated on the right side of a discharge generation point (b), so that stable discharge is obtained at the tips of the electrodes 3, 4. The heat generated by the stable discharge travels to the inner discharge tube 5, which is heated. Then metal grains 10 in the tube 5 are fused and vaporized, and metal vapor is generated, thereby obtaining always stable laser oscillation output from a laser window 8.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a metal vapor laser device for obtaining laser light by exciting metal vapor by melting metal grains such as copper grains with discharge heat, and in particular improves the electrode structure to stabilize the discharge. The present invention relates to a metal vapor laser device.

[Conventional technology]

Examples of material vapor generating devices using this type of vapor include metal vapor laser devices and vapor ion beam devices. Figure 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional metal vapor laser device shown in 1981 Laser Research Vol. 9 No. 2 "Manufacture of Copper Vapor Laser". Terminal, 3 is a cathode with a single-tube configuration, 4 is an anode with a single-tube configuration for the cathode 3, 5 is an inner discharge tube arranged between the electrodes (cathode, anode) 3 and 4 and has a discharge section formed inside, 6 7 is an atmospheric insulation layer such as a wool layer for suppressing heat loss due to radial heat transfer and convection from the discharge inner tube 5, and 7 is a vacuum layer 1.
1 is a seal tube for forming the cathode flange 1, 8 is a laser window for extracting laser light, and 9 is a metal outer tube 9 (jacket) surrounding these.
The cathode side jacket part 9A integrally has the cathode terminal 1 and the cathode 3 and electrically connects the cathode terminal 1 and the cathode 3, and the cathode side jacket part 9A is formed separately to connect the anode terminal 2 and the anode 4. The anode-side jacket part 9B electrically connects the anode-side jacket part 9B, and the insulating member 9C insulates the cathode-side jacket part 9A from the anode-side jacket part 9B. Reference numeral 10 indicates metal grains such as copper particles installed in the inner discharge tube 5 to generate metal vapor; reference numeral 11 indicates a vacuum layer for suppressing heat loss due to radial heat transfer and convection from the seal tube 7;
2 is housed in the vacuum layer 11, and the seal tube 7
13 is a metal spacer that supports these heat reflectors 12, and 14 is the cathode side jacket part. Cathode flange integrated with 9A, 15
is the discharge gas sealed in the discharge inner tube 5. Next, the operation will be explained. When a pulse voltage is applied between the cathode terminal 1 and the anode terminal 2, the connection between the cathode 3 and the anode 4 in the discharge gas 15 atmosphere in the discharge inner tube 5 is caused through the cathode side jacket part 9A and the anode side jacket part 9B. A pulse discharge occurs in between. Figure 5 shows the discharge characteristics of the single-tube electrode 3.
For example, if a discharge occurs at point b, the potential to the right of point b becomes the same potential as point b. Due to the generation of such pulse discharge, the discharge inner tube 5
The inside is in a discharge state. The heat generated by the discharge is conducted to the discharge inner tube 5, and the atmospheric heat insulating layer 6 surrounding the discharge inner tube 5. Vacuum layer 11° heat reflector 12. The metal spacer 13 suppresses heat loss due to convection, conduction, and radiation in the radial direction, so that the discharge inner tube 5
temperature increases. Due to this temperature rise, the metal grains 10 within the discharge inner tube 5 are melted, and metal vapor necessary for obtaining laser oscillation is generated. Then, this metal vapor is excited by the pulse voltage, causing population inversion. Therefore, if an optical resonator (not shown) is placed outside the laser windows 8 at both ends of the inner discharge tube 5, those laser windows 8
Laser light is obtained through the

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Since the conventional metal vapor laser device is constructed as described above, in the single-tube electrode 3.4, a high potential point is not generated axially inside the point where the discharge occurs, for example. In the discharge tube with electrode 3.4, the point of discharge does not move from point b to the tip, but rather discharges at the base of the electrode, which increases the discharge area that does not contribute to laser oscillation, resulting in a decrease in laser performance. This invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and according to claim 1 of the invention, it is possible to constantly stabilize the discharge at the tip of the electrode, and the stable discharge improves the laser performance. The purpose of the present invention is to obtain a metal vapor laser device with an electrode configuration that allows for. Moreover, the object of claim 2 of the present invention is to obtain a metal vapor laser device that can easily constitute a double electrode that can always perform stable discharge even if the inner discharge tube has a small diameter. .

[Means to solve the problem]

A metal vapor laser device according to a first aspect of the present invention is provided with an electrode having a two-layer cylindrical structure on the end side of an inner discharge tube. In the metal vapor laser device according to claim 2 of the present invention, the inner discharge tube is made of an insulating material, and a conductive tube body connected to an end of the inner discharge tube and extending outward in the axial direction; An electrode inserted into the conductive tube with a gap is electrically connected at the base of the electrode.

[For use]

In the metal vapor laser device according to claim 1 of the present invention, since the electrode provided on the end side of the inner discharge tube has a two-layer cylindrical structure, the electrode is placed axially inside or at the same position as the discharge generation point of the electrode. A high potential point is generated, whereby the discharge generation point is always at the tip of the electrode, and the discharge region that does not contribute to the laser output is reduced, thereby improving laser performance. In the metal vapor laser device according to claim 2 of the invention,
By electrically connecting a conductive tube connected to the end of an inner discharge tube made of an insulating material and an electrode inserted with a gap in the conductive tube at the base of the electrode. , Since we adopted a double electrode configuration with the tip insulated by the discharge inner tube,
As in the case of claim 1, stable discharge can be performed at all times, and even if the inner discharge tube has a small diameter, a double electrode can be easily formed by the conductive tube and the electrode.

【Example】

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a metal vapor laser device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and the same or corresponding parts as in FIG. 4 are given the same reference numerals and redundant explanation will be omitted. In the figure, 3 is a cylindrical cathode, 3a is an electrode flange integrally formed on the outer end of this cathode 3, 4 is a cylindrical anode for the cathode 3, and 4a is integrally formed on the outer end of this anode 4. electrodes 3b, 3c and electrodes 4b, 4 which have a two-layer electrode structure inside both ends of the discharge inner tube 5.
c has been inserted. Therefore, the cathode 3 and the anode 4 are connected to each other by the electrodes 3b, 3c and 4b, 4c.
It has a layered electrode structure. Furthermore, the flanges 19 for introducing electricity are electrically connected to the respective electrode flanges 3a and 4a at both ends of the discharge inner tube 5. 6 is an atmospheric insulation layer surrounding the outer periphery of the discharge inner tube 5; 9
11 is a vacuum jacket surrounding the atmospheric insulation layer 6;
is a vacuum layer formed on the wall of this vacuum jacket 9, 1
Reference numeral 6 denotes an insulating support member that supports the laser window 8 on the outer sides of the cathode 3 and the anode 4, respectively. Next, the operation will be explained. When a pulse discharge occurs between the cathode 3 and the anode 4 in the discharge gas 15 atmosphere within the discharge inner tube 5, the inside of the discharge inner tube 5 enters a discharge state. The discharge characteristics at this time are shown in FIG. In the figure, assuming that a discharge occurs, for example, at point b in the electrode 34 (only the cathode 3 is shown in Figure 2), which has a two-layer cylindrical structure as described above, then Vb = Vc - IR',', V d = V b + I R', and when a discharge occurs to the left of the tip of the cathode 3, a high potential point a is generated to the right of the point where the discharge occurs. For this reason,
Stable discharge occurs at the tips of the electrodes 3 and 4. The heat generated by such stable discharge is conducted to the discharge inner tube 5, and when the discharge inner tube 5 is heated, the discharge inner tube 5 is heated.
The metal particles 10 inside are melted and vaporized to generate metal smoke, making it possible to always perform stable laser oscillation from the laser window 8. FIG. 3 shows a metal vapor laser device according to a second embodiment of the invention. In the figure, 5 is an electrically insulating discharge inner tube made of a ceramic tube, and 17 is a left and right conductive tube body made of a metal tube extending outward in the axial direction connected to both ends of the discharge inner tube 5 by brazing or the like. A cathode 3 and an anode 4 each having a cylindrical shape are inserted into these conductive tubes 17 with a gap between them, and these electrode flanges 3a and 4a are connected to the ends of the conductive tubes 17 with electricity. connected. Therefore, in this second embodiment, the cathode 3 and the anode 4 are
and the conductive tubular body 17 constitute an electrode with a two-layer cylindrical structure, and when a discharge occurs between the cathode 3 and the anode 4, the electrode 3. Discharge occurs at the tips of the laser beams 4 and 4, and the discharge area that does not contribute to the laser output is reduced and the discharge area does not fluctuate, resulting in the effect of improving laser performance. In addition to these effects, even if the inner discharge tube 5 has a small diameter,
As described above, the cathode 3, the anode 4, and the conductive tube 17 have the effect of easily forming an electrode with a two-layer cylindrical structure. In FIG. 3, 17a is a flange integrally formed on the outer end of the conductive tube 17, and the flange 16a of the insulating support member 16 that supports the laser window 8 is attached to the metal packing. 1
They are removably connected via 8.

【Effect of the invention】

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, since the electrode with the two-layer cylindrical structure is provided on the end side of the inner discharge tube, a stable discharge is always performed at the tip of the electrode, and the laser performance is improved. This has the effect of improving. Further, according to the invention of claim 2, the inner discharge tube is formed of an insulating material, and the conductive tube body is connected to the end of the inner discharge tube, and a gap is present in the conductive tube body. By electrically connecting the inserted electrode at the base of the electrode, a double electrode structure was created in which the tip was insulated by the discharge inner tube.
As in the case of claim 1, stable discharge can be performed at all times, and even if the inner discharge tube has a small diameter, a double electrode can be easily constructed by the conductive tube body and the electrode. It has the effect of being able to do it.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a metal vapor laser device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the discharge characteristics of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a metal vapor laser device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional metal vapor laser device, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the discharge characteristics of FIG. 4. 3... Cathode (electrode), 4... Anode (electrode), 5...
- Discharge inner tube, 17... conductive tube body. In addition, in the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or equivalent parts. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a metal vapor laser device having an inner discharge tube containing metal particles for metal vapor generation and disposed between electrodes,
A metal vapor laser device characterized in that an electrode having a two-layer cylindrical structure in which two coaxial cylinders are electrically connected at their bases is provided on the end side of the inner discharge tube. (2) The discharge inner tube is formed of an insulating material, and the conductive tube is connected to the end of the discharge inner tube and extends axially outward, and the conductive tube is inserted into the conductive tube with a gap. Claim 1, wherein the electrode is electrically connected to the base of the electrode.
The metal vapor laser device described.