JPH01100983A - Laser rod excitation device in solid-state laser - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a laser rod excitation device for a solid-state laser.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, when exciting a laser rod using a solid-state laser, a configuration as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 has been used.

That is, the configuration shown in Fig. 5 has an excitation lamp b placed at one focus of an elliptical condensing reflector a, and a laser rod (Nd, :YAG rod) C placed at the other focus. The one shown in Fig. 6 has a configuration in which excitation lamps b are placed at focal positions on both sides of a 21f1 elliptical condensing reflector d, and a laser rod C is placed at a common focal position in the middle. The light beams emitted from the respective excitation lamps b are reflected by the respective condensing reflectors d, and are concentratedly irradiated onto the laser rod C, thereby exciting the laser rod C.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the above conventional configuration, the excitation light is irradiated from the outside in the direction perpendicular to the axis of the laser rod C, so for example, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. A part of the light is not absorbed and becomes a transmitted light beam e, resulting in a problem of low excitation efficiency.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] The present invention was conceived in view of the above, and it is possible to excite the laser rod with high density and high efficiency by eliminating light passing through the laser rod. Moreover, it is an attempt to provide a laser rod excitation device for a solid-state laser that can be made compact, and its configuration is such that an optical fiber east connector is connected to the side surface of one end of the laser rod via a coupling prism. The pump light source is connected to this optical fiber east connector via an optical fiber, and the excitation light from the pump light source is sent to the laser rod via the optical fiber and the optical fiber east connector at the coupling prism. Injected into the inside. Almost all of the incident light at this time enters into the laser rod. Furthermore, the excitation light incident on the laser rod is confined within the laser rod due to the leading wavepath phenomenon (total internal reflection phenomenon).

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 4.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a columnar laser rod with a hexagonal cross-section, and an optical fiber east connector 3 is fixed to each side of one side of the laser rod 1 via a coupling prism 2. A fiber optic cable 4 is connected to this optical fiber east connector 3. Each optical fiber 5 of this optical fiber cable 4 is connected to an optical fiber connector 6.
It is connected to an excitation light source 7, such as a semiconductor laser or a light emitting diode, via a semiconductor laser or a light emitting diode. 8 is a drive circuit for this excitation light source 7.

In the above configuration, the excitation light source 7 is emitted by the drive circuit 8, and the excitation light from the excitation light source 7 reaches the coupling prism 2 via the optical fiber connector 6, the optical fiber 5, and the optical fiber east connector 3. The light is refracted by the coupling prism 2 and incident on the side surface of the prismatic laser rod 1 at a predetermined incident angle. At this time, almost all of the excitation light incident on the coupling prism 2 is incident on the laser rod 1. This incident light is then confined within the laser rod 1 due to the leading waveguide phenomenon (total internal reflection phenomenon).

The apparatus shown in the above embodiments consists of a light source that can be introduced into a semiconductor laser, a light emitting diode, or an optical fiber, and an excitation light drive circuit, and can be integrated and made compact. Furthermore, since the optical fiber cable 4 is used, the distance between the excitation light source and the oscillator can be freely selected. Furthermore, optical fiber bundle connectors can vary the density of the excitation light flux, so
The excitation light flux can be optimized.

The contact surface between the laser rod 1 and the coupling prism 2 may have a concave surface as shown in FIG. 3, or a cylindrical surface as shown in FIG. good.

In this case, if the incident angle is constant, in the case of the cylindrical surface shown in FIG. 4, the incident light from the coupling prism is reflected on the curved surface of the cylinder, resulting in a large reflection loss.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the laser rod 1 can be excited with high density and high efficiency by eliminating light passing through the laser rod 1, and the entire apparatus can be made compact.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the present invention, and Figure 2 is from ■ to ■ in Figure 1.
3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams showing other embodiments of the present invention, FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views showing different conventional examples, and FIG. It is an action explanatory diagram. 1 is a laser rod, 2 is a coupling prism, 3 is an optical fiber east connector, 5 is an optical fiber, and 7 is an excitation light source. Applicant Komatsu Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Masaaki Yonehara

Claims (1)

[Claims] An optical fiber bundle connector 3 is fixed to the side surface of one end of the laser rod 1 via a coupling prism 2, and an excitation light source 7 is connected to the optical fiber bundle 3 connector 3 via an optical fiber 5. Laser rod excitation device for solid-state lasers.