JPS5984486A - Inner mirror type gas laser tube - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make use of characteristics of an inner mirror type laser which is easy to maintain and thus obtain a laser tube of output characteristics stable in temperature by using a flexible component such as a bellows and an insulation material. CONSTITUTION:The metallic bellows 8 is connected to a vacuum package 5 made of glass, the other end is connected to a ceramic pipe 9, and further connected to a metallic pipe 10 having a mirror 1 mounted by means of a low melting point glass 7. A metallic flange 11 is brazed to the ceramic pipe 9 and insulated from the metals 8 and 10. The flange 11 is installed to a resonator supporting body 13 with screws 12 and 12', and the inclination of the mirror 1 is adjusted, in the range of flexibility of the bellows 8, by the rotation of the screws. By this constitution, the mirror and a Brewster's window have less contamination, and then the gas laser tube which has both the characteristics of an inner mirror type which is easy to maintain and the characteristic of an outer mirror type whose mirror adjustment can be performed with safety in electrical manner can be obtained.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an internal mirror type gas laser tube.

A typical internal mirror type gas laser tube has a thin tube that generates laser plasma in a vacuum envelope filled with a laser active gas, and at least one pair of anode and cathode, and an extension of the thin tube at both ends of the vacuum envelope. A pair of mirrors are connected to the top.

Apply voltage between the anode and cathode and release gas through the narrow a.
electrify to form a laser medium, adjust the mirrors at both ends,
By facing directly, you can get a laser photo.

In order to adjust the mirror, in an internal mirror type laser, the glass vacuum envelope and the mirror are connected through a flexible metal material, and the laser output is adjusted without causing a discharge. The adjustment is completed when the maximum output power is obtained, but internal mirror type lasers have the advantage that the blue metal window and mirror are less dirty and maintenance is easier than external mirror type lasers. Because the envelope and the material that maintains the parallelism of the mirror are shared, the mirror is likely to shift due to discharge heat generation. For this reason, it is difficult to obtain stable output with a long laser tube.

If an attempt was made to separate the mirror holding and adjusting mechanism from the vacuum envelope in order to obtain a more stable output, a potential that would correct the radiation would be generated in the metal curved material holding the mirror, making electrical insulation necessary. This made the structure complicated and difficult to realize.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a laser tube that takes advantage of the easy-to-maintain features of an internal mirror type laser and also has thermally stable output characteristics.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a laser blind with an internal mirror type that allows for easy and safe mirror adjustment.

According to the present invention, a flexible part such as a bellows and an insulating material are used to hold a mirror while maintaining vacuum tightness, and a 7 flange is attached to the insulating material, and a 4g flange is attached to the mirror. Obtain an internal mirror type gas laser tube with mirror adjustment.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional internal mirror type 1ie-Ne laser tube.

A conventional internal mirror type laser tube has a pair of reflectors 1.1'
, an anode 2 , a cathode 3 , and a glass plasma capillary 4 , all of which are connected to a glass vacuum envelope 5 .

Anode 2. Cathode 3. Plasma A: The III tube 4 and the vacuum envelope can be connected using the conventionally known metal-glass or glass-glass JtN connection technology, but mirror 1°1' completely loses the optical properties of the mirror. In order to enable fine adjustment of the mirror even during discharge, a flange-shaped flexible mirror 1lJJ straight metal 6.6' and a low melting point glass seal material 7 are used.
．． 7' to the vacuum envelope 5.

However, due to the heat generated by the discharge, a temperature distribution occurs in the glass vacuum envelope 5, and as a result, the adjustment of the mirrors 1.about.1' becomes erroneous, and the output power fluctuates. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable when the laser tube is long or generates a large amount of heat, and for this reason, it has been difficult to realize a highly stable internal mirror type laser with a He-Ne laser of tomw or higher or an argon ion laser. .

In addition, in order to maintain good stability, we tried to hold the flexible metal 6°6' in parallel with a thermally stable material such as Invar, which is separate from the vacuum envelope, similar to the external mirror type laser. 1~
In this case, since a potential was generated in the metal 6.6' during discharge, it was difficult to hold the metal 6.6'.

/! FIG. 42 is a partially detailed sectional view showing an embodiment of an internal mirror type gas laser tube according to the present invention.

The end portion of the internal mirror gas laser tube according to the invention, which includes one mirror, has a flexible structure such as a bellows in the vacuum envelope 5, as compared to the conventional internal mirror gas laser tube shown in FIG. There are metals 8 that can be connected to glass, and materials 9 that can be connected to hard, highly insulating metals such as ceramics.
, a metal 1o connecting the mirror 7 and the insulating material 9, and a mirror 1 connected to the metal 1° by the low melting point glass 7. Furthermore, the insulating material 9 includes gold l
The strong 7 lunge 11 made by r@ is soldered, gold) P4
8 and 10 and are insulated from each other. Flange 11
is attached to the thermomechanically strong resonator support 13 via a plurality of screws 12, 12'.
12'... by rotating the mark.

7 lunges 11. By controlling the insulator 9, the inclination of the mirror 7 can be adjusted within the movable range of the movable material 8.

Resonator support 13/rJ',, outside vacuum t! 14 e, it is possible to use thermally stable metal materials such as invar other than glass materials, and a mechanically strong structure can also be obtained.

Further, although a potential is generated in the metal 8.10 during discharge, the adjustment screw 12.12' can be set to a safe ground potential because the insulating material 9 is entirely interposed. The insulating material 9K may be made of ceramic such as alumina in a cylindrical shape, and can be easily brazed with metal.

As described above, it is possible to realize a gas laser tube that combines the features of the internal mirror type mirror and the blue metal window, which are easy to maintain with little dirt, and the feature of the external mirror type, which allows for safe mirror adjustment. This gas laser tube may be an argon laser other than a He-Ne laser, and a component such as a diaphragm may be used for the bellows 8 and 9.

Moreover, the flange 11 may be divided into a plurality of pieces other than a disk shape.

Although the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 shows the structure of one end of the laser tube, it is obvious that a similar structure can be used for the other end, so the explanation is omitted.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Claims (1)

[Claims] The mirror is held while maintaining vacuum tightness using a removable part such as a bellows and an insulating material, and the insulating material VC/
An internal mirror type gas laser tube to which an I'i7 flange is attached and all mirror adjustments are made through the flange.