JPH09148663A - Microwave gas laser oscillator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gas laser oscillator which is capable of outputting both continuous laser rays which are stable and whose ripples are small and laser ray pulses which are stable and possessed of large output peaks. SOLUTION: A microwave gas laser oscillator is equipped with a microwave oscillating circuit composed of N magnetrons 1 and N microwave power supplies 4 provided corresponding to the magnetrons 1 for each discharge tube 3 where laser gas is made to flow through, and each magnetron 1 is intermittently oscillated by the switching drive of the corresponding microwave power supply 4. In a continuous output operation, a main control circuit 6 gives a reference clock to each power supply unit 5 composed of N of microwave power supplies 4, the microwave power supplies 4 included in the power supply unit 5 are made to drive the magnetrons 1 through the phase shifter 7 shifting successively in switching phase from each other by an angle of θ, 360 deg./N, on the same frequency with the reference clock, and microwaves are temporally uniformly dispersed and injected into the discharge tubes 3, whereby ripples are less produced in continuous laser rays.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a microwave gas laser oscillator for performing microwave discharge excitation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been a trend toward miniaturization of gas laser oscillators, and as a means therefor, the excitation frequency has been increased. Conventionally, a DC power source and a high frequency power source of several hundred KHz to several tens of MHz have been used as a power source for this gas laser oscillator, but there are problems in price and controllability, and various microwave-excited gas laser oscillators are currently being studied. .

A conventional microwave gas laser oscillator will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a conventional microwave gas laser oscillator. In the figure, 1 is a magnetron for generating microwaves, 2 is a waveguide for transmitting microwaves, 3 is a discharge tube in which a laser gas is flowing, 4 is a microwave power source for driving the magnetron 1, and 8 is laser light. An output mirror that partially transmits light, and a total reflection mirror 9 that constitutes an optical resonator together with the output mirror 8.

The operation of the above configuration will be described. The microwave power source 4 is a switching power source of about 20 KHz and applies a high voltage capable of oscillating to the magnetron 1. At that time, as shown in FIG. 2, the microwave power source 4 is configured so that the microwave output from the magnetron 1 has a waveform having a complete off-time. The microwave emitted from the magnetron 1 is injected into the discharge excitation unit 10 via the waveguide 2. The laser light emitted from the laser gas excited by the discharge excitation unit 10 is amplified by the laser light resonator composed of the output mirror 8 and the total reflection mirror 9, and a part thereof is extracted from the output mirror 8. The microwave power source 4 performs PWM control with a constant off time so that the microwave output is constant. Further, the microwave power source 4 is provided with a heater transformer for applying to the filament of the magnetron 1, and the commercial AC voltage is stepped down and applied to the filament.

[0005]

In such a conventional microwave gas laser oscillator, as described above, each microwave power source controls the output of each magnetron by PWM for a constant off time. Due to the difference, the mutual shift of the switching frequency gradually occurs, the phase of each microwave power source changes over time, the ripple of the laser light output occurs, and the peak output of the laser light output during pulse operation also occurs. There was a problem of large fluctuations. Further, since the heater voltage is also uncontrolled, there is a problem that the magnetron output is not stable and the laser light output is not stable during excitation and pulse operation.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and an object thereof is to provide a microwave gas laser oscillating device which enables stable continuous output of laser light and high peak pulse output.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided one or more discharge tubes through which laser gas flows, microwave generating means and a power supply unit provided outside each discharge tube. The wave generating means includes a plurality of microwave generation circuits, the power supply unit includes a microwave power supply provided for each microwave generation circuit, and the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by switching drive of each microwave power supply. Then, a microwave is supplied to the discharge tube, and in the gas laser oscillator that generates laser light by using the discharge generated by the microwave in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, a control unit for integrally controlling all the power supply units is provided. The control means outputs a reference clock for each power supply unit, and each power supply unit outputs the reference clock. By driving the microwave generator that corresponds to based on a reference clock, a gas laser oscillating apparatus the switching phase of the microwave was set to be controlled by the reference clock to be injected into the discharge tube.

This makes it possible to control the microwave injection timing for each discharge tube.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the laser oscillator according to the first aspect is provided with M discharge tubes, and the control means provides a reference clock sequentially shifted by 360 ° / M for each power supply unit. It is a microwave power supply device.

Thus, the microwaves can be dispersed and injected into the discharge tubes at a timely uniform timing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there are provided one or more discharge tubes through which a laser gas flows, and a microwave generator and a power supply unit which are provided outside each discharge tube. And a microwave power supply provided for each of the microwave generation circuits, the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by the switching drive of each microwave power supply to the discharge tube. In a gas laser oscillating device that supplies a microwave and generates a laser beam by using a discharge generated by the microwave in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, a phase control unit that controls a switching phase of a microwave power supply in the power supply unit. A control that is provided for each power supply unit and that controls all the power supply units A stage is provided, the control means outputs a reference clock for each power supply unit, and each power supply unit, in a continuous output operation, has the N number of microwaves corresponding thereto by the phase control means based on the input reference clock. This is a gas laser oscillator in which the generation circuit is driven at the same switching frequency and the switching phase is shifted by 360 ° / N.

Thus, the microwaves can be uniformly dispersed and injected into the discharge tube, and continuous output laser light with a small ripple can be obtained.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there are provided one or more discharge tubes through which a laser gas flows, and a microwave generator and a power supply unit provided outside each of the discharge tubes. And a microwave power supply provided for each of the microwave generation circuits, the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by the switching drive of each microwave power supply to the discharge tube. In a gas laser oscillating device that supplies microwaves and generates laser light using a discharge generated by the microwaves in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, phase control means for controlling a switching phase of a microwave power supply in the power supply unit, and Monitor the corresponding microwave generation circuit and detect the stopped microwave circuit A visual means is provided for each power supply unit, and a control means for integrally controlling all of the power supply units is provided. The control means outputs a reference clock for each power supply unit, and each power supply unit receives an input during continuous output operation. Based on the reference clock, the remaining (N−X) microwave power sources except the stopped X of the N microwave generating circuits corresponding to the phase control means are set to the same switching frequency. The switching phase is 360 ° / (N−X) and the gas laser oscillator is driven.

Thus, the microwave can be injected into the discharge tube at a timely uniform timing without the influence of the stopped microwave oscillating circuit, and continuous output laser light with small ripple can be obtained even if the microwave oscillating circuit is stopped. Obtainable.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in the pulse output operation, the phase control means performs switching driving of all the microwave generation circuits in the microwave generation means at the same frequency and the same phase based on the input reference clock. The gas laser oscillating device according to claim 3 or claim 4 thus configured.

Thus, in the pulse output operation, it is possible to obtain a laser output whose peak output is uniform in time.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a discharge tube through which a laser gas flows, and a microwave generation circuit and a microwave power source provided outside the discharge tube, wherein the microwave generation circuit is the microwave power source. In a gas laser oscillating device that intermittently oscillates by switching drive and supplies microwaves to the discharge tube, and generates laser light using a discharge generated by the microwaves in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, the microwave power source is a microwave. Equipped with a heater control circuit that controls the heater of the magnetron of the generation circuit,
The heater control circuit is a gas laser oscillating device configured to increase the heater voltage applied to the magnetron at the time of start-up after the microwave power supply is stopped for a predetermined time or more or at the time of pulse operation.

As a result, it is possible to prevent the output from decreasing at the time of start-up or the peak output operation.

The present invention according to claim 7 comprises a discharge tube through which a laser gas flows, a microwave generation circuit and a microwave power source provided outside the discharge tube, wherein the microwave generation circuit is the microwave power source. In a gas laser oscillating device that intermittently oscillates by switching drive to supply microwaves to the discharge tube and generates laser light using a discharge generated by the microwaves in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, the microwave power source is a power source. The output of the microwave generation circuit driven is equipped with a power supply output detection circuit that detects the peak value of the output for each switching cycle, and controls the switching by the detected output to maintain the output power at a predetermined value. It is a gas laser oscillator which is designed to reduce the fluctuation of

This makes it possible to reduce the level fluctuation of the microwave output.

[0021]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention according to claim 1 is provided with one or more discharge tubes through which a laser gas flows, a microwave generating means and a power supply unit which are provided outside each of the discharge tubes. The generating means includes a plurality of microwave generation circuits, and the power supply unit includes a microwave power supply provided for each microwave generation circuit, and the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by switching drive of each microwave power supply. In the gas laser oscillator device, which supplies a microwave to the discharge tube and generates a laser beam by using a discharge generated by the microwave in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, a control unit for integrally controlling all the power supply units is provided. The control means outputs a reference clock for each power supply unit, and each power supply unit outputs the input reference clock. By driving the microwave generator that corresponds to the basis of the click, a gas laser oscillator apparatus switching phase was set to be controlled by the reference clock of the microwave to be injected into the discharge tube, also,
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there are provided M discharge tubes, and the control means provides a reference clock that is sequentially shifted by 360 ° / M for each power supply unit. A power supply device, and claim 3
The present invention according to claim 1, further comprising one or more discharge tubes through which a laser gas flows, and a microwave generator and a power supply unit provided outside each of the discharge tubes, wherein the microwave generator has a plurality of microwave generation circuits. And the power supply unit includes a microwave power supply provided for each of the microwave generation circuits, the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by switching drive of each microwave power supply, and supplies microwaves to the discharge tube. In a gas laser oscillating device that generates laser light by using a discharge generated by the microwaves in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, phase control means for controlling a switching phase of a microwave power supply in the power supply unit is provided for each power supply unit. In addition, a control means for integrally controlling all the power supply units is provided, Each stage outputs a reference clock for each power supply unit, and in the continuous output operation, each power supply unit switches the corresponding N microwave generating circuits by the phase control means based on the input reference clock. Frequency, switching phase is 360 ° /
A gas laser oscillating device which is driven by shifting by N, and the present invention according to claim 4 is one or more discharge tubes through which laser gas flows, and a microwave generator provided outside each discharge tube. Means and a power supply unit,
The microwave generation means includes a plurality of microwave generation circuits, the power supply unit includes a microwave power supply provided for each microwave generation circuit, the microwave generation circuit by the switching drive of each microwave power supply. In a gas laser oscillator that intermittently oscillates to supply microwaves to the discharge tube and generate laser light by using a discharge generated by the microwaves in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, switching of a microwave power supply in the power supply unit Phase control means for controlling the phase and monitoring means for detecting the stopped microwave circuit by monitoring the corresponding microwave generation circuit are provided for each power supply unit, and a control means for integrally controlling all the power supply units is provided. The control means outputs a reference clock for each power supply unit. However, in the continuous output operation, each power supply unit operates on the basis of the input reference clock, and the remaining (N) of the corresponding N microwave generation circuits except the stopped X of the microwave generation circuits. -X) a microwave laser power source is a gas laser oscillation device which is driven at the same switching frequency with a switching phase shifted by 360 ° / (N-X), and the present invention according to claim 5. 3. The phase control means, in the pulse output operation, based on the input reference clock, all the microwave generation circuits in the microwave generation means are switching-driven at the same frequency and the same phase. 4 is a gas laser oscillation device according to 4,
Further, the present invention according to claim 6 is provided with a discharge tube through which laser gas flows, and a microwave generation circuit and a microwave power source provided outside the discharge tube, wherein the microwave generation circuit is the microwave power source. In a gas laser oscillating device that intermittently oscillates by switching drive and supplies microwaves to the discharge tube, and generates laser light using a discharge generated by the microwaves in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, the microwave power source is a microwave. A heater control circuit for controlling the heater of the magnetron of the generation circuit is provided, and the heater control circuit increases the heater voltage applied to the magnetron at the time of start-up after the microwave power supply is stopped for a predetermined time or more or at the time of pulse operation. The present invention according to claim 7 is the gas laser oscillator device according to claim 7, Tube, and a microwave generation circuit and a microwave power source provided outside the discharge tube, the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by the switching drive of the microwave power source to supply microwaves to the discharge tube. In the gas laser oscillating device for generating a laser beam by using a discharge generated by the microwave in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, the microwave power supply includes a power supply output detection circuit that detects a peak value of a power supply output for each switching cycle. A gas laser oscillator device is provided, which controls switching based on the detected output so as to maintain output power at a predetermined value, thereby reducing fluctuations in the output of the driven microwave generation circuit.

An embodiment of the gas laser oscillator according to the present invention will be described below. (Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the gas laser oscillator of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment relates to the gas laser oscillator according to any one of claims 1 to 3. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. The same components as those in the conventional example are given the same numbers. In the figure, a discharge tube 3 through which a laser gas flows is inserted into N (N ≧ 1) microwave waveguides 2, and a microwave output from a magnetron 1 forms a microwave glow discharge in a discharge excitation unit 10. To be done. The magnetron 1 and the waveguide 2 form one microwave oscillating means. Also, N magnetrons 1
Are controlled by respective microwave power sources 4. Now, N microwave power sources 4 connected to one discharge tube
Is one power supply unit 5. Each power supply unit 5
A reference clock input terminal 18 for receiving a reference clock from a main control circuit 6 which is a control means for integrally controlling the N power supply units 5 is provided, and a phase shift for setting a phase difference between switching phases of the microwave power supplies 4 is provided. It is equipped with a container 7. This phase shifter 7 is an element that determines the switching phase of each microwave power source 4, and constitutes a phase control means. Further, the output mirror 8 which is a partial transmission mirror and the total reflection mirror 9 constitute an optical resonator, and the laser light is output from the output mirror 8.

The operation of the above configuration will be described. A reference clock of about 20 KHz is sent from the main control circuit 6 to each power supply unit 5. The microwave power supply 4 switches at the frequency of this reference clock, and as shown in FIG. 2, each magnetron 1 has a complete off time of about 2
Microwave with intermittent oscillation of 0 KHz is output. At this time, the reference clock is sequentially delayed via the phase shifter 7 by the phase angle θ = (360 ° / N) and the other microwave power sources 4
Is input to Since the microwave power source 4 is switched in synchronization with the input reference clock, the microwave outputs are shifted by θ and output. In this way, by setting the switching phases of the microwave power source 4 in one discharge tube so that they are all shifted uniformly, the microwave outputs are also shifted in phase uniformly from each other, and the excitation becomes uniform in time. As a result, continuous output laser light output with less ripple can be obtained.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, when a plurality of discharge tubes 3 are used, each discharge tube is provided with a power supply unit and a microwave oscillating means, and the main control circuit 6 supplies each power supply unit 5 with a reference. By applying a clock, the injection timing of microwaves in each discharge tube 3 can be controlled in units of discharge tubes. Especially, by setting the phase difference in the reference clock given to each power supply unit,
It is possible to set the phases of all the microwave power sources with a shift, for example, θ = 360 / for M discharge tubes.
By setting the phase difference of M, a continuous output laser light output with a very small ripple can be obtained.

Regarding the microwave gas laser oscillating device, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-782875 discloses at least 2.
Although a means for shifting the oscillation phase of each microwave power source by using microwave power sources of two or more units is disclosed, this means for shifting the phase at the commercial frequency level, and as in the present invention,
It is suggested that the ripple of the laser light output caused by switching is reduced by using a microwave power supply that switches at a frequency of 0 KHz or more and has a complete off time, and by shifting the switching phase of the microwave power supply within the switching cycle. Not something to do.

(Second Embodiment) A second embodiment of the microwave gas laser oscillator of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. This embodiment relates to a gas laser oscillator according to a fourth aspect. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one power supply unit of the present embodiment connected to one discharge tube. In addition, the same components as those in FIG. Although the main control circuit 6 is omitted in the drawing, the basic clock is applied to the basic clock input terminal 18. In this embodiment, the monitoring circuit 11 is provided as a monitoring unit for monitoring whether or not the microwave is normally output. Either or both of the microwave power supply 4 and the magnetron 1 do not operate normally, and the microwave is generated. Magnetron 1 which is stopped without being output normally
The signal corresponding to the number of is transmitted to the phase shifter 7. The monitoring circuit 11 can be easily realized by using a voltage obtained by high-frequency detection of microwaves. From the number N of microwave power supplies connected to one discharge tube and the number X of abnormal power supplies sent from the monitoring circuit 11, the phase shifter 7 has a phase shift amount θ = 360 ° /
(N−X) is determined, and the reference clock is set by sequentially delaying it by the phase shift amount θ. By this operation, it is possible to reduce the ripple of the laser light output that occurs when some magnetrons are stopped.

(Embodiment 3) Hereinafter, Embodiment 3 of the microwave gas laser oscillator of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment relates to a gas laser oscillator according to a fifth aspect. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one power supply unit 5 connected to one discharge tube in this embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 19 is an operation mode signal acceptance terminal for accepting an operation mode signal indicating a pulse operation or a continuous output operation from the main control circuit 6, and the operation mode signal is inputted to the phase shifter 7 which is a phase control means. It When the operation mode signal is a pulse operation, the phase amount θ of the phase shifter 7 is set to 0 and the phase difference of the microwave output power source is set to 0, so that microwave power is simultaneously injected from all the magnetrons 1 into the discharge tube. As a result, a pulsed laser light output having a high pulse peak value and a steep rise can be obtained.

(Embodiment 4) Hereinafter, Embodiment 4 of the microwave gas laser oscillator of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment relates to a gas laser oscillator according to claim 6. FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of the microwave power supply 4 of this embodiment and the magnetron 1 driven by the microwave power supply 4. In the figure, a microwave power supply 4 applies a high voltage between the anode and cathode of the magnetron 1 and a heater voltage to the filament of the cathode. The microwave power source 4 has a driving signal receiving terminal 2 that receives a driving signal corresponding to the start of driving.
0, a pulse operation signal receiving terminal 21 corresponding to the pulse operation, and a heater control circuit 22 for controlling the heater voltage.

The operation of the above configuration will be described.
In order to obtain a steep microwave output by the magnetron 1, it is necessary for the filament to reach a sufficient temperature. Further, when the pulse operation is performed, the microwave average output is also reduced, and thus an abnormal phenomenon such as moding due to a shortage of thermoelectrons emitted from the filament is likely to occur. From this, the microwave power supply 4 receives the operation signal indicating the operation start or the pulse operation signal indicating the pulse operation at the time of start-up, the start-up after the stop for 1 second or more, or the pulse operation, and the heater control circuit 22
As a result, the heater voltage applied to the filament is increased to prevent moding, so that stable laser light can be obtained at the time of startup or pulse operation.

(Fifth Embodiment) Hereinafter, a fifth embodiment of the microwave gas laser oscillator of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment relates to a gas laser oscillator according to claim 7. FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of the microwave power source 4 of this embodiment and the magnetron 1 driven by the microwave power source 4. In the figure, reference numeral 12 is a main switching power supply circuit for controlling electric power applied to the anode and cathode of the magnetron 1 by switching with a switching element at about 20 KHz, and the switching element is PWM controlled by a switching element control circuit 13. Reference numeral 14 is a main transformer that boosts the switched power up to several KV required for magnetron oscillation.
The secondary output is rectified by the high voltage rectifier circuit 15 and applied between the anode and cathode of the magnetron 1.

In this embodiment, the current flowing from the anode to the cathode is used as an amount corresponding to the amount of electric power for controlling the magnetron 1. Reference numeral 16 is a current detecting element for detecting a current flowing between the anode and the cathode of the magnetron 1, and in this embodiment, a current transformer is used. The current signal detected by the current transformer 16 is converted into a peak current signal for each switching cycle by the peak current detection circuit 17 and transmitted to the switching element control circuit 13.
An output setting signal is input to the switching element control circuit 13, the peak current signal is compared with the output setting signal, and the peak current control is performed by feedback control to reduce the change in the peak value of the microwave output.
It is possible to obtain laser light with a smaller level fluctuation.

[0032]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, microwaves are dispersed at a timely uniform timing and injected into the discharge tube, so that a continuous output laser light output with a small ripple can be obtained. In addition, by injecting microwaves into the discharge tube at the same timing in time, it is possible to obtain a laser light output with a large peak output and a uniform pulse output in time, and control the heater voltage of the magnetron. By this, it is possible to prevent a decrease in output at the time of startup or pulse operation, and by controlling the microwave power supply output to a predetermined value, it is possible to control the level fluctuation of the laser light output to be small.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

[Figure 2] Microwave output waveform diagram

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a power supply unit according to a second embodiment of the microwave gas laser oscillator of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a power supply unit in Embodiment 3 of the microwave gas laser oscillator of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a power supply unit and a magnetron in a fourth embodiment of the microwave gas laser oscillator of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a power supply unit and a magnetron in a fifth embodiment of a microwave gas laser oscillator according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional microwave gas laser oscillator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 magnetron (microwave generation means) 2 waveguide (microwave generation means) 3 discharge tube 4 microwave power supply (microwave power supply means) 5 power supply unit 6 main control circuit (control means) 7 phase shifter (phase control means) 11 monitoring circuit (monitoring means) 16 current transformer (power supply output detection means) 17 peak current detection circuit (power supply output detection means) 22 heater control circuit

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A discharge gas supply device comprising at least one discharge tube through which a laser gas flows, and a microwave generator and a power supply unit provided outside each discharge tube, wherein the microwave generator has a plurality of microwave generation circuits. Together with the power supply unit, a microwave power supply provided for each of the microwave generation circuits, the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by switching drive of each microwave power supply to supply microwaves to the discharge tube, In a gas laser oscillating device that generates laser light by using a discharge generated by microwaves in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, a control means for integrally controlling all the power supply units is provided, and the control means is a reference clock for each power supply unit. The power supply unit outputs the microwave corresponding to the input reference clock. A gas laser oscillator in which a switching phase of microwaves injected into each discharge tube is controlled by the reference clock by driving a generating circuit. 2. The microwave power supply device for a laser oscillator according to claim 1, further comprising M discharge tubes, wherein the control means supplies a reference clock sequentially shifted by 360 ° / M for each power supply unit. 3. One or more discharge tubes through which laser gas flows, and a microwave generator and a power supply unit provided outside each discharge tube, wherein the microwave generator has a plurality of microwave generation circuits. Together with the power supply unit, a microwave power supply provided for each of the microwave generation circuits, the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by switching drive of each microwave power supply to supply microwaves to the discharge tube, In a gas laser oscillating device that generates a laser beam by using a discharge generated in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, a phase control means for controlling the switching phase of the microwave power supply in the power supply unit is provided for each power supply unit, A control means for integrally controlling all the power supply units is provided, and the control means is A reference clock is output for each power supply unit, and in a continuous output operation, each power supply unit causes the phase control means to cause the corresponding N microwave generation circuits to operate at the same switching frequency based on the input reference clock. , Switching phase is 360 ° /
A gas laser oscillator that is driven by shifting by N. 4. One or more discharge tubes through which laser gas flows, and microwave generator means and a power supply unit provided outside each discharge tube, and the microwave generator means includes a plurality of microwave generation circuits. Together with the power supply unit, a microwave power supply provided for each of the microwave generation circuits, the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by switching drive of each microwave power supply to supply microwaves to the discharge tube, In a gas laser oscillating device for generating laser light using a discharge generated by microwaves in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, a phase control means for controlling a switching phase of a microwave power supply in the power supply unit and a corresponding microwave generation circuit are provided. Each power supply unit has a monitoring means to monitor and detect a stopped microwave circuit. And a control means for integrally controlling all the power supply units, the control means outputs a reference clock for each power supply unit, and each power supply unit outputs the reference clock based on the input reference clock in continuous output operation. N corresponding to the phase control means
The remaining (N−X) microwave power sources except the stopped X of the microwave generating circuits have the same switching frequency and a switching phase of 360 ° /
(N-X) A gas laser oscillating device which is driven by shifting it. 5. The phase control means, in the pulse output operation, all the microwave generation circuits in the microwave generation means are switching-driven at the same frequency and the same phase based on the input reference clock. Alternatively, the gas laser oscillator according to claim 4. 6. A discharge tube through which a laser gas flows, a microwave generation circuit and a microwave power source provided outside the discharge tube, wherein the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by switching drive of the microwave power source. In a gas laser oscillator that supplies microwaves to the discharge tube and generates laser light by using a discharge generated by the microwaves in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, the microwave power source is a magnetron heater of a microwave generation circuit. A gas laser oscillating device comprising a heater control circuit for controlling, wherein the heater control circuit increases the heater voltage applied to the magnetron at the time of start-up after the microwave power supply is stopped for a predetermined time or more or at the time of pulse output operation. 7. A discharge tube through which a laser gas flows, a microwave generation circuit and a microwave power source provided outside the discharge tube, wherein the microwave generation circuit intermittently oscillates by switching drive of the microwave power source. In a gas laser oscillator that supplies microwaves to the discharge tube and generates laser light by using a discharge generated by the microwaves in the discharge tube as a laser excitation source, the microwave power supply switches a peak value of a power supply output in a switching cycle. It is equipped with a power supply output detection circuit that detects each output, and by controlling the switching by the detection output so as to maintain the output power at a predetermined value, it is possible to reduce fluctuations in the output of the driven microwave generation circuit. Gas laser oscillator.