JPH11103105A - Solid state laser oscillator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simply dispose a laser oscillator unit at a high reproducibility and improve the cooling efficiency, without complicating the structure by removably inserting the oscillator unit having a solid state laser medium cooling passage along guide members in a housing. SOLUTION: The laser oscillator comprises a solid state laser medium 23, a light-exciting flash lamp 24 and a scattering reflector 25 for reflecting the light from this lamp 24. Coolant water fed from a coolant feed port 13 flows to the periphery of the laser medium 23 and drains after cooling. A laser oscillator unit 2 incorporating the laser medium 23, lamp 24, etc., is slid along a guide rail 3 and simply disposed in a housing 1. The guide rail 3 positions it and hence it can be disposed at a good reproducibility and good cooling efficiency.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a solid-state laser oscillation device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as disclosed in JP-A-8-162694, a solid-state laser medium and a flash lamp are provided integrally with a lid for closing both ends of a housing. 2. Description of the Related Art There has been provided a solid-state laser oscillation device in which a flash lamp or the like can be easily taken out of a housing.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional device, the solid-state laser medium and the flash lamp can be easily taken out of the housing.
When the solid-state laser medium and the flash lamp are incorporated into the housing again, it is necessary to adjust the optical axis of the solid-state laser medium and the like again, and there is a problem that reproducibility is poor.

In order to improve the cooling of the solid-state laser medium, the cooling fluid for cooling the solid-state laser medium is preferably provided with a direction. However, a separate partition plate or the like is required for this purpose, which complicates the structure. There was a problem of doing.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a solid-state laser oscillator, a solid-state laser medium, a flash lamp for exciting the solid-state laser medium, and directing light from the flash lamp to the solid-state laser medium. And a reflection plate for cooling the solid-state laser medium, a laser oscillation unit having a cooling passage for cooling the solid-state laser medium, and a housing having an outflow / inlet communicating with the cooling passage. The guide member is provided so as to be freely inserted into and removed from the housing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the solid-state laser oscillation device, the guide member is disposed on both sides of the cooling passage and the outflow / inlet port, and the guide member is also used as a partition wall for the cooling fluid. It was done.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a solid-state laser oscillation device according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cylindrical housing having openings 11 and 12 at both ends.
Inside, a laser oscillation unit 2 is arranged so as to be freely inserted and removed along a guide rail 3 as a guide member.

The housing 1 has a cooling water supply port 13 for supplying cooling water (cooling fluid) to the housing 1.
And a cooling water discharge port 14 for discharging the cooling water. That is, the cooling water supply port 13 and the cooling water discharge port 1
4 together form an outflow / inlet port that communicates with a cooling passage 4 (see FIG. 2) described later.

As shown in FIG. 2, the laser oscillation unit 2 has a main body 21 formed in a rectangular shape similar to the cross-sectional shape of the housing 1. It is arranged at a predetermined distance from the inner peripheral surface.

A total of four guide rails 3 are arranged in parallel on the inner surface of the housing 1 and two at the top and bottom, respectively, over the openings at both ends. The guide rails 3 project inward from the inner surface of the housing 1 by a predetermined height. Is laid.

On the outer peripheral surface of the main body 21 corresponding to each of the guide rails 3, a groove 22 in which each of the guide rails 3 is slidable is formed, and laser oscillation is performed by the guide rail 3 and the groove 22. The unit 2 is configured so as to be freely inserted into and removed from the housing 1 at appropriate intervals.

A solid-state laser medium 23 and a flash lamp 24 are disposed in the main body 21.

The solid-state laser medium 23 includes the main body 21.
It is located at the center of the inside. As the solid laser medium 23, YAG, glass, ruby, or the like is used.

The flash lamp 24 is for optically exciting the solid-state laser medium 23, and is arranged in parallel with a target position with the solid-state laser medium 23 interposed therebetween.

The outer peripheries of the solid-state laser medium 23 and the flash lamp 24 are surrounded by a scattering reflector 25, and the scattering reflector 25 is fixed in the main body 21 by an appropriate fixing member such as a bolt 26. .

A transparent partition plate 27 is provided between the solid-state laser medium 23 and the flash lamp 24.

Each of the partition plates 27 is held by the scattering reflector 25, and the solid laser medium 2 is held by the partition plates 27.
3 and the flash lamp 24 are partitioned in a watertight manner.

The main body 21 and the scattering reflector 25 are provided with an introduction passage 41 for guiding the cooling water supplied into the housing 1 to the solid-state laser medium 23, and a discharge passage for discharging the cooling water into the housing 1. The cooling passage 4 is formed by a space 43 around the solid-state laser medium 23 partitioned by the partition plate 27 and the introduction path 41 and the discharge path 42.

That is, the cooling water supplied into the housing 1 from the cooling water supply port 13 is guided to the periphery of the solid-state laser medium 23 through the cooling passage 4 and
After cooling, the cooling water 3 is discharged from the cooling water discharge port 14 of the housing 1.

The guide rails 3 are arranged on both sides of the cooling water supply port 13 and the cooling water discharge port 14 constituting the cooling passage 4 and the outflow / inlet, and are introduced into the housing 1 as described above. It also functions as a partition wall for sealing the cooling water between the guide rails 3 and preventing the cooling water from entering the housing 1 outside the guide rails 3.

With the laser oscillation unit 2 thus configured, the openings 11 and 12 at both ends of the housing 1 are placed as shown in FIG. By closing the housing 1, it is stably arranged in the housing 1.

The lids 51 and 52 are detachably formed by an appropriate fixing member such as a bolt 53, and an opening 54 is formed at the center thereof. The output mirror 6 and the total reflection mirror 7 are disposed so as to face each of the openings 54. In the solid-state laser oscillator configured as described above, when the solid-state laser medium 23 is irradiated with the excitation light from the flash lamp 24, the laser light is output from the output mirror 6 side by the reflection action of the total reflection mirror 7. You.

When assembling the solid-state laser oscillation device, the laser oscillation unit 2 incorporating the solid-state laser medium 23 and the flash lamp 24 is slid along the guide rail 3 so that the laser oscillation unit 2
Can be easily arranged in the housing 1 and is arranged in a state of being positioned by the guide rail 3, so that the reproducibility at the time of arrangement is good and the burden of performing troublesome optical axis adjustment can be reduced. it can. That is, when the laser oscillation unit 2 can be arranged on the housing 1 with high precision via the guide rail 3, the optical axis adjustment is hardly necessary, and even if it is necessary, the laser oscillation unit 2 Fine adjustments are required because basic adjustments have been made.

Since the cooling water is introduced between the guide rails 3, the cooling water can be given a direction, and the cooling water can be directed to the whole space between the housing 1 and the laser oscillation unit 2. Efficient.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the laser oscillation unit can be easily arranged in the housing by guiding the laser oscillation unit along the guide member. As a result, the reproducibility at the time of arrangement is good, and the burden of performing troublesome optical axis adjustment can be reduced.

Further, the guide member is disposed on both sides of the cooling passage and the outflow / inlet, and the guide member is also used as a partition wall of the cooling fluid, and the cooling fluid is guided between these guide members, thereby complicating the structure. Thus, the cooling fluid can be given directionality, and the cooling efficiency can be increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a solid-state laser oscillation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 housing 13 cooling water supply port 14 cooling water discharge port 2 laser oscillation unit 23 solid laser medium 24 flash lamp 25 scattering reflector (reflector) 3 guide rail (guide member) 4 cooling passage

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A solid-state laser medium, a flash lamp for exciting the solid-state laser medium, and a reflector for reflecting light from the flash lamp toward the solid-state laser medium are housed therein, and the solid-state laser medium is cooled. A laser oscillation unit having a cooling passage for performing the operation, and a housing having an outflow / inlet communicating with the cooling passage, wherein the laser oscillation unit is guided by a guide member and is detachably provided in the housing. A solid-state laser oscillation device characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The solid-state laser oscillation device according to claim 1, wherein said guide member is arranged on both sides of said cooling passage and said outflow / inlet, and said guide member is also used as a partition wall for a cooling fluid.