JPS60231377A - Gas laser device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the deterioration of a cathode, by providing discharge surfaces at the inside and the outside of the cathode through insulating material, using one surface as the discharge surface of a pulse oscillating electrode, and using the other surface as the discharge surface of a continuous oscillating electrode. CONSTITUTION:A cathode 3A is formed by a pulse oscillating electrode 3b having a discharge surface 3b0 at the inner side and a continuous oscillating electrode 3a having a discharge surface 3a0 with a large diameter. With the discharge surfaces 3a0 and 3b0 being made to remain, the electrodes are coated by insulating material 9. Thus the discharge surfaces 3a0 and 3b0 are not exposed to the same gas flow. Even if either of the continuous oscillating electrode 3a or the pulse oscillating electrode 3b is discharged, the other electrode is not exposed to the discharge. The discharge surface 3a0 or 3b0 is not contaminated by the contaminant from the other electrode. Therefore the deterioration of the cathode 3A can be reduced.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of application of the invention] The present invention relates to a gas laser device.

[Background of the invention]

In conventional gas laser equipment, in order to obtain both continuous oscillation (CW oscillation) and pulse oscillation in the same device, the cathode of the electrode is divided into CW oscillation and pulse oscillation, and the two are used by changing a switch. is proposed.

FIG. 1 shows a conventional example of this type of gas laser device. As shown in the figure, there is a Cot in the airtight container 1.
A mixed gas consisting of , Ng, He, etc. is filled with negative pressure,
Forced circulation is performed by the blower 2. The cathode 3 is composed of an electrode 3a for CW oscillation and an electrode 3b for pulse oscillation, and the electrode 3a for CW oscillation is on the upstream side, and the electrode 3a for CW oscillation is on the downstream side, in the upstream and downstream relationship with respect to the gas flow indicated by the arrow in the figure. An electrode 3b is provided. During CW oscillation, a DC high voltage is applied between the anode 4 and the CW oscillation electrode 3a by the DC voltage source 5a, a glow discharge is generated, and the laser beam passes through the total reflection mirror 6 in the excited gas medium. The reflected light is repeatedly reflected back and forth between the mirror 7 and the output mirror 7, and a portion of it is taken out as an output.

By the way, in the gas laser device configured in this way, the second
As shown in the figure, in the case of CW oscillation operation, the discharge surface 3bo of the downstream pulse oscillation electrode 3b is exposed to the glow discharge 8 even though it is not discharging itself. The discharge surfaces 3ao and 3bo of the cathode 3 are all covered with an insulator 9, but the discharge surface 3a of the CW oscillation electrode 3a
(The part in contact with the
may adhere to. If, after such a situation occurs, the electrodes 3a, 3b and the DC voltage sources 5a, 5b are switched to perform a pulse oscillation operation, the pulse oscillation electrode 3
Since the discharge surface abo of b is contaminated and deteriorated, the glow discharge becomes unstable and the desired performance cannot be obtained.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a gas laser device that can reduce deterioration of the cathode.

[Summary of the Invention] That is, the present invention circulates a mixed gas in a sealed container, arranges a cathode and an anode having a continuous oscillation electrode and a pulse oscillation electrode in the sealed container, and generates a glow discharge between these two electrodes. In the gas laser device, discharge surfaces are provided on the inside and outside of the cathode via an insulator, one of these discharge surfaces is the discharge surface of the pulse oscillation electrode, and the other is the discharge surface of the continuous oscillation electrode. The discharge surface of the continuous oscillation electrode and the pulse oscillation electrode are coaxially disposed in the radial direction.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be explained below based on the illustrated embodiments. An embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Note that parts that are the same as those in the conventional system are given the same reference numerals, and therefore their explanations will be omitted. In this embodiment, discharge surfaces 3ao and 3bo are provided on the inside and outside of the cathode 3A with an insulator 9 interposed therebetween.

3bO is connected to the discharge surface 3a of the pulse oscillation electrode 3a (,
The other one was formed on the discharge surface 3bo of the CW oscillation electrode 3b. Then, the pulse oscillation electrode 3b is placed on the inside, and the CW electrode is placed on the outside.
An oscillation electrode 3a was provided.

By doing so, the discharge surfaces 3a6, 3b of the CW oscillation electrode 3a and the pulse oscillation electrode 3b.

are arranged coaxially in the radial direction, and the cathode 3A
It is possible to obtain a gas laser device that can reduce the deterioration of.

That is, a pulse oscillation electrode 3b having a discharge surface 3bo on the innermost circumference of the cathode 3A, and a CW oscillation electrode 3a having a discharge surface 3ao coaxial with the cathode 3A and having a larger diameter than that of the pulse oscillation electrode 3b. Formed. and these discharge surfaces 3a6.3b.

Only the remaining parts were covered with an insulator 9. In the same figure, 1
0 is the lead and 11 is the support. By doing this, the discharge surfaces 3a (1, 3bo) are not exposed to the same gas flow. Therefore, even if either the CW oscillation electrode 3a or the pulse oscillation electrode 3b is discharged, the other one is not exposed to the same gas flow. Since the discharge surfaces 3a6, 3bo are not contaminated with deterioration substances from other electrodes, the cathode 3A is no longer exposed to
Deterioration of the fuel cell can be reduced, and stable glow discharge can be maintained even after long-term operation. Note that the pulse oscillation electrode 3b is placed on the inside, but this is because before applying the pulse voltage, a DC voltage is applied to flow a bias current to form a glow discharge, but the current is smaller on the inside. It's because it's empty.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the CW oscillation electrode 3a and the pulse oscillation electrode 3
The cathode 3B was constructed by bringing the electrodes b into close contact with each other in the axial direction. Therefore, both electrodes 3a and 3b are apparently positioned upstream and downstream with respect to the gas flow, but the space between them is filled with an insulator 9, and the diameters of the discharge surfaces 3a (1, 3bo) are changed. Since the discharge surfaces 3a, ), 3bo are not exposed to the same gas flow, the same effects as in the case described above can be achieved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention eliminates the possibility that the discharge surfaces of the continuous oscillation electrode and the pulse oscillation electrode are exposed to the same gas flow, so that the discharge surface of one electrode is not deteriorated by the discharge of the other electrode. However, it is possible to obtain a gas laser device in which deterioration of the cathode can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a configuration diagram of a conventional gas laser device, and Figure 2 is a diagram of a conventional gas laser device.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the cathode portion of an embodiment of the gas laser device of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a plan view of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the cathode portion of the gas laser device of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a cathode section of another embodiment. 1...Airtight container, 2...Blower, 3A, 3B...
Cathode, 3a... Electrode for continuous oscillation, 3ao... Discharge surface of electrode for continuous oscillation, 3b... Electrode for pulse oscillation, 3b
o... Discharge surface of pulse oscillation electrode, 4... Anode, 5
a, 5b... DC high pressure source, 6... Total reflection mirror, 7...
・Output mirror, 8... (1 other person) Kaya 1st eye 5^ 2nd Goson 5th eye 5 (

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A mixed gas is circulated in a closed container, a cathode and an anode having a continuous oscillation electrode and a pulse oscillation electrode are arranged in the closed container, and a glow discharge is generated between these two electrodes. In the gas laser device, discharge surfaces are provided on the inside and outside of the cathode via an insulator, one of these discharge surfaces is provided as the discharge surface of the pulse oscillation electrode, and the other is provided as the discharge surface of the continuous oscillation electrode. A gas laser device characterized in that: 2. The gas laser device according to claim 1, wherein the pulse oscillation electrode is disposed on the inside, and the continuous oscillation electrode is disposed on the outside.