JPS5917876B2 - Carbon dioxide laser device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a carbon dioxide laser device, and particularly relates to a carbon dioxide laser device.

The present invention relates to a carbon dioxide laser device that oscillates while passing a laser medium through an electric region at high speed. FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a laterally pumped high-speed circulation carbon dioxide laser device taken as a representative example of a high-speed circulation carbon dioxide laser device. Ru. In the figure, 1 is a flat anode, 2 is a plurality of rod-shaped cathodes arranged in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface, 3 is a discharge section, 4 is a wire mesh made of a mesh of O, ln or less, and 5 is a heat exchanger. 6 is an axial blower, T is a flow path connecting the heat exchanger 5 and the axial blower 6, and is a space for making the entire surface of the heat exchanger 5 work effectively, 8 is an airtight container, and 10 is an airtight container. 11 is a channel enlarged section. The axial blower 6 circulates the laser medium at high speed.

That is, as shown by the arrow, the laser medium blown out from the axial blower 6 hits the end wall surface of the airtight container 8, reverses itself, flows along the inner wall surface, and then reverses again at the other end wall surface.
The laser medium passes through the wire mesh 4, removes dust in the laser medium, makes the flow velocity distribution uniform in the optical axis direction, and flows into the discharge section 3 via the channel reduction section 10. The flow path is narrowed from the wire mesh 4 to the discharge section 3 and expanded again toward the heat exchanger 5. The reason for this is to increase the flow velocity in the discharge section 3 and lower the flow velocity elsewhere. This is to reduce pressure loss in the wire mesh 4 and the heat exchanger 5. The wire mesh 4 is used to keep the discharge stable by uniformizing the flow velocity distribution in the optical axis direction, and to clean the laser medium by removing coarse dust. In this type of laser device, a glow discharge is generated between an anode 1 and a cathode array 2 using a gas mixture of N2 and He as a laser medium at 200 to 760 torr (7) C, and a laser beam is emitted in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper. Take out. However, due to glow discharge, C02 dissociates in the process shown by the following equation, and Co, 502 force,
This is one of the reasons why the laser output decreases over time when the laser medium is used in a closed state. C02→Co+
-02・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
(1) This invention was made to alleviate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and a catalyst is disposed in the flow path of the laser medium to recombine the dissociated Co and O2.

5 FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, and 9 is a filter-shaped container formed to cover the entire opening of the inlet of the flow path reduction section, and an appropriate amount of hopcaloid catalyst is contained in the container. is filled and wrapped in a thin wire mesh of, for example, about 200 mesh to prevent it from scattering.

Further, this container 9 is formed to have a thin thickness in the flow direction in order to reduce pressure loss, and is disposed at the entrance of the flow path reduction section 10 where the flow rate is slow. When the container 9 configured in this way is provided, the dissociated CO and 02 in the laser medium are converted to CO+802→C at room temperature due to the action of the hopkaloite catalyst.
O2... causes the reaction (2) and returns to CO2 gas again.

This is because catalysts such as platinum react only at high temperatures (80° C. or higher), whereas hopcaloite has the feature of reacting at room temperature. Therefore, it is possible to prevent CO2 from dissociating due to glow discharge and reducing the laser output. Note that the filter-shaped container 9 according to the present invention not only reduces the decrease in laser output over time, but also removes dust from the laser medium and uniformizes the flow velocity distribution in the optical axis direction, similar to the wire mesh 4 in the conventional device. Another advantage is that it also functions as a filter to keep the laser medium clean and to stabilize the glow discharge.

Although the above embodiment shows a configuration in which the container 9 is disposed at the inlet of the channel reducing section 10, the container 9 is not necessarily limited to this configuration, and may be disposed at the outlet of the channel expanding section 11.

In this case, in order to remove dust in the laser medium and equalize the flow velocity, it is necessary to provide the wire mesh 4 as in the conventional example.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional lateral excitation high-speed circulation type laser device, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an anode, 2 is a cathode, 3 is a discharge part, 5 is a heat exchanger, 6 is an axial blower, 7 is a flow path, 8 is an airtight chamber, 9 is a filter-shaped container containing hopkaloite, Reference numeral 10 denotes a flow path narrowing section, and 11 a flow path enlargement section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A laser medium containing CO_2 gas is circulated in an airtight container, and a glow discharge is formed in a high-speed airflow with a reduced flow path of the laser medium to generate laser light. 2. A carbon dioxide gas laser device, characterized in that the flow path of the laser medium is provided with a container formed in the shape of a filter and containing hopcaloite wrapped in a fine mesh wire mesh. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that a filter-like container containing hopcaloid is disposed so as to cover the entrance side of the narrowed part of the flow path of the laser medium leading to the part where the glow discharge is formed. Carbon dioxide laser device.