JPS5989478A - Ion laser device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To supply an enclosed gas adequately, and to execute stable laser oscillation for a prolonged term by setting a supply level to a slightly high value in response to the speed of the reduction of the gas. CONSTITUTION:A laser pipe 2 is provided with an auxiliary gas bomb 14 partitioned by a solenoid valve 13. A DC power supply 1 discharges the pipe 2. The anode voltage and anode currents of the pipe 2 are inputted to a comparison amplifier 10. A timer circuit 11 receives an output signal from the amplifier 10, and generates an intermittent control output. A solenoid-valve driving circuit 12 drives the solenoid valve 13 by an output from the circuit 11. A diode 9 compensates anode voltage by its static characteristics, and inputs the voltage to the amplifier 10. Consequently, the gas is supplied while the propriety of the supply quantity is made sure at intervals by the circuit 11. Accordingly, the excessive supply of the gas due to a time delay between the supply of the gas and the anode voltage rise of the pipe 2 is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ion laser device, and more particularly, to an ion laser device that is adapted to replenish a reduction in laser lightning filling gas.

Conventionally, this type of ion laser device uses a large current arc discharge to ionize the gas sealed inside the laser tube.
Therefore, the gas cleaning effect [gas in the E-Flaser tube decreases]. When the filled gas decreases, the laser tube voltage decreases, and the output decreases accordingly.If the gas decreases further, normal gas discharge will not occur, and the operation of the 9 pipes will stop, making it unusable.◎ Book The purpose of the invention is to replenish gas at a higher conventional gas replenishment level when the anode voltage is high, because the gas decreases rapidly, and to prevent operation stoppage due to a sudden decrease in the filled gas at the time of the sieve anode voltage. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the embodiment shown in FIG. In Fig. 1, 1ri laser tube 2
The positive output is connected to the 7 node 3 of the laser %r2, and the negative output is grounded and connected to the cathode 4&C of the laser tube 2 through a current detection resistor 15'ft. 5 and 5' are resonator mirrors arranged in the same manner by narrowing the laser tube 2; The output terminal of the □ current output resistor 16, which is a valve, is fed back to the DC power supply 1 to provide a foot current to the voltage regulator 17, and also serves as a reference voltage input to the comparator amplifier 100. Laser tube 2 is connected to the other input terminal VC of the specific yield increase @ device IO.
The anode voltage EB is the anode voltage detection output V divided by the total resistances 7 and 8. is added to 2, and the output of the comparison amplifier lO is the timer circuit 11? The output 1c of the drive circuit 12 is then applied to the solenoid valve drive circuit 12, and the solenoid valve 13 opens and closes.

Briefly explaining the operation of this ion laser device, the DC power supply 1 is turned on, voltage is applied between the anode and cand of the laser tube 2, the laser tube 2 is discharged, and the main valve oscillator 5 The laser tube 2 outputs the oscillating laser source 6 due to the optical resonance effect of The current is stabilized to the required current, and the laser tube 2 continues to operate stably.

Here, while the laser tube 2 continues to operate, if the gas sealed inside the tube decreases due to the above-mentioned cleanup action,
The anode voltage E++ of the laser tube 2 decreases, and the output decreases. When the anode voltage EB decreases, the output voltage v0 of the voltage dividing resistor 8 also decreases, which causes the comparator amplifier 1
It is compared with the reference voltage V□ at OVc, and if it is lower than the reference voltage, a positive output appears at the comparison amplifier]0, and ↓p
The operation of the timer circuit 11 is started. Timer circuit 1
1 opens the solenoid valve 13 for a moment through the entire solenoid valve drive circuit 12, and supplies the laser tube 2 with the amount of gas required for - times from the auxiliary pump 6. Then, after a time that takes into account the gas diffusion time, the 1fc solenoid valve 13 is opened to replenish the required amount of gas, and while a positive output appears on the comparator amplifier, this small replenishment operation is repeated, resulting in the gas replenishment result. The timer circuit 11 is turned off only when the laser tube 7 node voltage EB rises and the positive output of the comparator amplifier 10 disappears.

By performing replenishment while checking at time 114+ whether the replenishment amount is appropriate from the timer circuit 111C, excessive replenishment of gas due to the time delay VC between gas replenishment and laser tube anode voltage rise is prevented. It will be done.

However, as mentioned above, when the anode voltage EB is lower than the cylinder, and the anode current is large, the gas clean-up effect due to arc discharge is strong, so the gas drop is large. Since the decrease in the amount of gas becomes large, there is a possibility that the gas replenishment interval determined by the timer circuit 11Vc may not be able to keep up with the small amount of accent, which may cause the laser tube 2 to stop operating. Here, diode 9 has static characteristics as shown in Figure 2, and when the voltage applied to the diode is low, a current is applied.

However, as the voltage increases, current gradually begins to flow. V using this special order. When the anode voltage EB is low, the comparator circuit 10 outputs an output when the reference voltage EB becomes Vo, and gas is replenished, but when the anode voltage EB becomes high, the output voltage of the resistor 8 becomes V. becomes higher and the diode 9 gradually bypasses the VC current, and the input chamber 1Ev0' to the comparison amplifier 101C becomes smaller than Vo. The comparator amplifier 10 outputs even if the value is larger than ~r, and the gas replenishment level for the current IB before diode insertion is all 3rd.
If the solid line in the figure is used, the supply level after the diode is inserted will be as shown by the broken line in the figure. Therefore, the higher the power flow, the earlier the reference voltage becomes the same as daytime, and the gas is replenished earlier, thereby completely preventing the danger of the laser tube stopping due to a sudden decrease in the amount of gas filled during high current operation. In this way, by setting a slightly higher replenishment level in response to the speed of decrease in the sealed gas, appropriate gas replenishment is carried out.
Even when the anode current IB is large, one stable laser oscillation can be performed for a long time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the configuration of the present invention, Fig. 2 shows the static characteristics of the diode, and Fig. 3 shows the setting curve of gas replenishment with respect to the anode current.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A laser tube equipped with an auxiliary gas cylinder separated by a solenoid valve Vc, a DC 11L inlet for energizing the laser tube, a comparator amplifier that inputs all the anode voltage and anode current of the laser tube, and the output of this comparator amplifier. a timer circuit that receives a signal and generates an intermittent control output; a solenoid valve drive circuit that drives the solenoid valve using the output of the timer circuit;
An ion laser IF, characterized in that it is completely equipped with a diode input to the comparison amplifier.