JPH05291654A - Solid state laser rods - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a solid state laser oscillator which can obtain stable high power laser without the necessity of mounting a plurality of laser oscillators, by covering with a metallic sleeve having a high light reflectivity the peripheral surface of the junction point of solid state laser rods. CONSTITUTION:Long solid state laser rods 3 can be obtained by covering the junction point with a metallic sleeve 1 having high light reflectivity, after bonding and fixing both millar-polished ends of a plurality of the solid state laser rods 3 with an adhesive material. By using the long solid state laser rods, excitation energy can be made in proportion to the length of a rod, and high power of a laser is made possible. By covering the junction point with the metallic sleeve having high reflectivity, deterioration of the adhesion material due to excitation light and thermal deformation can be prevented. Therefore, by using the solid state laser rods, high output can be obtained with a little output fluctuation only with a unit of laser oscillator, thereby the necessity of using a plurality of laser oscillators is eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a solid-state laser oscillating device capable of generating a high-power laser.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of the YAG laser oscillator, which is the most popular solid laser oscillator in the past, the Y
Due to the limitation of the AG single crystal growth technique, the maximum size of the laser rod is 10 mmφ in thickness and 150 mm in length, and the laser output is limited to 400 W.
In addition, the efficiency of the YAG laser oscillator is about 2% to 4%, and most of the rest is changed to heat, so there is a limit to the energy input per unit length of the laser rod.
It was damaged when the limit was exceeded. As a means for solving these problems, a high-power laser is obtained by individually arranging and connecting the solid-state laser rods 3 of a plurality of solid-state laser oscillators as shown in FIG. However, it was very difficult to control a plurality of solid-state laser oscillators arranged and coupled in series to stabilize the laser output.
Moreover, since many parts are used, the frequency of failure is high.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a solid-state laser oscillator that can obtain a stable high-power laser without individually disposing a plurality of solid-state laser oscillators in series.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a plurality of solid-state laser rods having both end surfaces mirror-polished at their respective mirror-polished end surfaces are brought into close contact with each other and fixed with an adhesive, and then the adhesive portion is exposed to light. A long fixed laser rod covered with a metal sleeve having a high reflectance.

That is, according to the present invention, in a solid-state laser rod in which a laser element is made of glass or a single crystal, both end faces to be joined are mirror-polished, and a plurality of solid members are joined by bonding the joined faces in series and fixed with an adhesive. The solid-state laser rod is characterized in that the outer peripheral surface of each joining surface of the laser rod is covered with a metal sleeve having a high light reflectance.

[0006]

By using the long solid laser rod, the excitation energy proportional to the length can be input, and the laser output can be increased. In addition, by covering the bonded portion with a metal sleeve having a high light reflectance, deterioration of the adhesive due to excitation light and deformation due to heat can be prevented.

[0007]

EXAMPLES Next, examples of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a high-power solid-state laser oscillator according to an embodiment of the present invention. The solid-state laser rod 3 of the YAG laser rod provided between the total reflection mirror 5 and the emission mirror 6 is placed at the focal point of the gold concentrator 4 having a cylindrical elliptical cross section, and the optical excitation lamp 2 is provided at the other focal point. The total reflection mirror 5 and the emission mirror 6 are arranged so that the light spontaneously emitted from the solid-state laser rod excited by the light excitation lamp 2 is stimulated and emitted between the parallel reflection surface 5 and the emission mirror 6. By the adjustment, the laser light is emitted from the emission mirror 6 having a low reflectance. The solid-state laser rod 3 used in the embodiment of the present invention has a diameter of 8
A YAG crystal having a length of 200 mm and a length of 200 mm has a parallelism of 5 seconds, a squareness of 30 seconds, and a surface roughness Rmax of 0.001μ
m and flatness of 0.06μm, magnesium fluoride (MgF ₂ ) is vacuum-deposited by a thickness of λ / 4 (λ = 1.06μm) to bond 3 solid laser rods to prevent reflection loss. It was done. An epoxy-based curing agent is used as the adhesive, and in order to prevent the adhesive from wrapping around the joint surfaces between the end faces, the end faces are crimped together without the adhesive being applied to a region with a width of 10 mm centering on the joint part. Tens of μm adhesive
Then, a silver sleeve having a thickness of 05 mm, an inner diameter of 8.05 mm, and a length of 10 mm was adhered on it. The silver sleeve 1 reflects 95% or more of the lamp light, and therefore prevents the adhesive from being deteriorated by the light. Moreover, since the heat radiation is good, the deformation of the adhesive due to the heat can be prevented. When the structure shown in FIG. 1 was used for this rod and 9 Kw of electric power was applied to the photoexcitation lamp 2, a laser having an average output of 1 Kw was obtained. The output stability was ± 5%, which was much better than the conventional device as shown in FIG. Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described with respect to the solid laser rod, other single crystals or glass may be used, and the silver sleeve covering the outer periphery of the joining portion of the laser rod has other high light reflectance. The present invention can also be practiced using metals such as gold, platinum, and alumina.

[0008]

As described above, by using the solid-state laser rod according to the present invention, a single solid-state laser oscillator has a small output fluctuation and a large output of 1 Kw or more can be obtained. Since it is not used, the frequency of failure is low and maintenance is easy. Moreover, the controller for controlling each power supply is unnecessary,
The device becomes cheaper.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a high-power solid-state laser oscillator using an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a conventional high-power solid-state laser oscillator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 silver sleeve 2 optical excitation lamp 3 solid-state laser rod 4 gold concentrator 5 total reflection mirror 6 emission mirror

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A solid-state laser rod in which a laser element is made of glass or a single crystal, and both end surfaces to be joined are mirror-polished, and the joining surfaces are closely adhered in series and fixed with an adhesive. A solid-state laser rod characterized in that an outer peripheral surface of each of the joint surfaces is covered with a metal sleeve having a high light reflectance.