COMPENSATION FOR TRANSIENT HEATING OF LASER MIRRORS
Granted: July 8, 2010
Application Number:
20100172042
A mirror assembly for a carbon dioxide (CO2) slab laser resonator includes a center section having a rectangular cross-section and a pair of thermal balancing bars. A concave reflecting surface formed on a front edge of a center section. The side-bars are attached to either side of the center section and extend forward of the reflective surface. Dimensions of the center section and side bars are selected to position the thermal neutral plane of the assembly close to the reflective…
PARTICLE DAMAGE PROTECTION FOR HIGH POWER CO2 SLAB LASER MIRRORS
Granted: July 8, 2010
Application Number:
20100172386
A CO2 gas discharge laser includes elongated planar live and ground electrodes vertically spaced and electrically insulated from each. The electrodes are spaced apart by ceramic spacer strips arranged along the edges of the electrodes. An auxiliary electrode is located at each end of the live electrode, co-planar with the live electrode, longitudinally spaced part from the live electrode vertically spaced apart from, but electrically connected to, the ground electrode. The auxiliary…
HERMETICALLY-SEALED RF FEED-THROUGH WITH INTEGRATED CAPACITOR
Granted: May 13, 2010
Application Number:
20100118901
A carbon-dioxide (CO2) gas-discharge slab laser includes elongated discharge-electrodes in a sealed enclosure. Radio Frequency (RF) power is supplied to the electrodes via an impedance matching network and a co-axial electrical low inductance transmission line feed-through sealed to the enclosure. The feed-trough includes two spring contacts which are configured to be spring compression push-fit in grooves in edges of the discharge-electrodes. A central conductor of the feed-through is…
LASER ENGRAVING APPARATUS
Granted: April 29, 2010
Application Number:
20100102043
In laser engraving apparatus for engraving a gray-scale image on a plastic ID-card, the laser is a modulatable optically pumped semiconductor laser. Focusing optics focus a beam from the laser into a focal spot about 10 micrometers in diameter. The ID-card is mounted on a turntable which is rotated such that the focal spot sweeps over the ID card. The turntable is translated in a direction transverse to the rotation direction and the laser is modulated such that the engraved gray-scale…
THERMAL DISTORTION COMPENSATION FOR LASER MIRRORS
Granted: April 29, 2010
Application Number:
20100103974
A laser mirror assembly is disclosed with improved pointing stability. An elongated mirror includes a concave reflecting portion. A pair of elongated planar portions extend parallel to the concave reflecting portion on either side thereof. The planar portions are stepped down from the reflecting portion. The mirror is formed from copper. A pair of stainless steel strips are connected to planar portions. The bimetallic effect between the copper mirror and the stainless steel strips…
DIODE-LASER MARKER WITH ONE-AXIS SCANNING MIRROR MOUNTED ON A TRANSLATABLE CARRIAGE
Granted: April 1, 2010
Application Number:
20100078857
Apparatus for marking a bitmap image on tape includes a source of a modulatable laser-beam. The beam is directed to an oscillating mirror on a carriage translatable across the width direction of the tape. The oscillating mirror directs the beam to a focusing lens mounted on the carriage. The focusing lens is arranged to focus the beam to a focal-spot on the tape. As the carriage is translated, the focal-spot is swept reciprocally in a wave-like path across the tape. Modulation of the…
RF PRE-AMPLIFIERS AND POWER AMPLIFIERS
Granted: January 28, 2010
Application Number:
20100019849
An RF amplifier circuit includes a MOSFET connected to an RF output of the circuit via an impedance matching network including an inductor and a tuning capacitor connected in parallel with the inductor and the MOSFET. DC voltage is applied to the MOSFET via a series path through a radio frequency choke and the inductor of the impedance matching network.
FREQUENCY-AGILE RF-POWER EXCITATION FOR DRIVING DIFFUSION-COOLED SEALED-OFF, RF-EXCITED GAS LASERS
Granted: December 3, 2009
Application Number:
20090296764
A gas discharge laser includes a laser housing including a laser gas and an electrode-assembly for lighting a discharge in the laser gas. The electrode assembly has a first resonant frequency when the discharge is not lit and a second resonant frequency when the discharge is lit. RF power delivering circuitry of the laser includes an arrangement for determining and recording the two resonant frequencies. RF power is applied to the electrodes at the first recorded resonant frequency to…
PHASE AND POLARIZATION CONTROLLED BEAM COMBINING DEVICES AND METHODS
Granted: September 3, 2009
Application Number:
20090219960
A controller, such as a programmable logic controller, may manipulate a phase and/or polarization module to alter and/or control the phase and polarization of input beams. Utilizing active phase and polarization control can enable the combination of any arbitrary number of input beams into a single, combined beam. Utilizing active phase and polarization control can also enable the combination of input beams having arbitrary power levels.
LOW STRESS OPTICS MOUNT USING THERMALLY CONDUCTIVE LIQUID METAL OR GEL
Granted: August 13, 2009
Application Number:
20090199389
An optical assembly with mounting provided to effectively transfer heat away from an optic, such as a slab or waveguide amplifier or laser disk, while limiting internal stresses. The assembly includes an optic with a planar surface. A heat sink is positioned in the assembly with an upper surface next to the planar surface of the optic. The upper surface of the heat sink comprises a recessed surface defining a reservoir for containing a compliant heat transfer material. The assembly may…
Rapidly and electronically broadly tunable IR laser source
Granted: May 14, 2009
Application Number:
20090122816
A laser source producing rapidly tunable emission in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum is disclosed. The source incorporates a Cr2+ laser and an electrically operated tuning element to enable rapid switching of emission wavelength. The use of the source in conjunction with frequency converters, in particular optical parametric oscillators, permits covering a wider spectral range. In such cases the frequency converter output wavelength can be rapidly tuned by electrically…
Execution of hardware description language (HDL) programs
Granted: January 5, 2006
Application Number:
20060005173
In one embodiment, a hardware implementation of an electronic system may be realized by compiling the HDL description into an executable form and executing the processor instructions. By applying data flow separation technique, the operations of the system can be effectively mapped into the instruction set of complex processors for efficient logic evaluation, in some implementations. An array of interconnected processors may be deployed, in some embodiments, to exploit the inherent…
Power scalable waveguide amplifier and laser devices
Granted: January 15, 2004
Application Number:
20040008405
The present invention is directed to guided wave systems, beam transport and waveguide techniques. The invention may comprise passive or active, hollow and dielectric core self-imaging mode wave guide systems, beam amplifiers (10, 40), laser resonators (70), beam transports, and waveguides. Embodiments may include rectangular cross-section waveguides, and preferably maintaining spatial profile of an input beam, such as a Gaussian beam, through the self-imaging period of the waveguide…
