JP3065637B2 - Laser device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a laser device having a relatively high-output dye laser device having an amplifier, and particularly to an improved pulse laser device for excitation. The present invention relates to a laser device.

(Prior Art) Generally, a pulsed dye laser device using pulsed laser light as an excitation light source is configured as shown in FIG.

That is, the laser device includes the dye laser device 1 and the excitation pulse laser device 2. Dye laser device 1
Is provided with a dye laser oscillator 3, and the dye laser oscillator 3 includes an oscillator dye cell 3a containing an excitation medium, a beam expander 3b, a grating 3c and an emission mirror 3d constituting a resonator. The laser pulse 4a emitted from the dye laser oscillator 3 enters the amplifier dye cell 5, is amplified by the amplifier dye cell 5, and is emitted as a laser pulse 4b.

The excitation pulse laser device 2 required to operate the relatively high output dye laser device 1 having such an amplifier dye cell 5 also requires a relatively high output,
In many cases, the amplification system configuration includes the excitation pulse laser oscillator 6 and the excitation pulse laser amplifiers 7, 8.
Reference numeral 9 denotes a controller for controlling the excitation pulse laser oscillator 6 and the amplifiers 7, 8.

Incidentally, it is known that the laser pulse 4a oscillated by the dye laser oscillator 3 has a slight time delay after the excitation laser light 11 enters the oscillator dye cell 3a. This is considered to be mainly because the laser pulse 4a is formed while the pump laser beam 11 is received and the light reciprocates between the resonators (between the grating 3c and the output mirror 3d). Therefore, the laser pulse 4a oscillated by the dye laser oscillator 3
In order to be amplified by the amplifier dye cell 5, it is necessary to delay the excitation laser light 12 by a time corresponding to the time when the oscillation is delayed by the dye laser oscillator 3 and to enter the amplifier dye cell 5. Therefore, in the excitation laser light 13 emitted from the excitation pulse laser amplifier 8, the excitation laser light 11 reflected by the half mirror 14 directly enters the oscillator dye 3a from the condenser lens 15 and transmits through the half mirror 14. Excitation laser light
The light 12 is reflected by the delay mirrors 16 and 17 and the total reflection mirror 18, and is incident on the amplifier dye cell 5 from the condenser lens 19 with a delay.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the delay time of the excitation laser light 12 incident on the amplifier dye cell 5 is 3 to 6 m in terms of the optical path length. The quality of the pump laser light 12 after the delay changes due to the spreading effect or the like, which affects the convergence on the amplifier dye cell 5. In addition, since the optimum value of the delay time differs depending on the dye and wavelength used, there is a problem that adjustment is complicated.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a laser device that does not require adjustment of an optical path length and does not need to consider a distortion effect and a spreading effect of excitation laser light.

[Configuration of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-described problems, a laser device according to the present invention includes a dye laser device having a dye laser oscillator and an amplifier dye cell, and a dye laser oscillator and an amplifier dye cell. An excitation pulse laser device for excitation is provided, and the dye laser oscillator is arranged on an oscillator dye cell containing an excitation medium and on one side and the other side of the oscillator dye cell, and gratings constituting a resonator And an emission mirror, wherein the excitation pulse laser device includes an oscillator excitation pulse laser device for exciting the oscillator dye cell, and an amplifier excitation pulse laser device for exciting the amplifier dye cell. Between the oscillator-excited pulse laser device and the amplifier-excited pulse laser device. An oscillation timing controller that adjusts the oscillation time difference between the two is provided.

(Operation) By adjusting the oscillation time difference between the pulse laser device for exciting the oscillator and the pulse laser device for exciting the amplifier by the oscillation timing controller, the laser is excited to the amplifier dye cell with a delay from the excitation laser light incident on the oscillator dye cell. Laser light can be incident. Therefore, it is not necessary to set a long optical path length to delay the light incident on the amplifier dye cell, and it is not necessary to adjust the optical path length,
It is not necessary to consider the distortion effect and the spreading effect of the pump laser light.

(Example) An example of a laser device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The laser device includes a dye laser device 1 and an excitation pulse laser device 2A. The dye laser device 1 is provided with a dye laser oscillator 3, which includes an oscillator dye cell 3a containing an excitation medium and a beam expander 3b.
, And a grating 3c and an output mirror 3d that constitute a resonator. The grating 3c is arranged on one side of the oscillator dye cell 3a, and the emission mirror 3d is arranged on the other side of the oscillator dye cell 3a, and the grating 3c and the emission mirror 3d constitute a resonator. The dye laser light generated in the oscillator dye cell 3a is amplified by a resonator constituted by the grating 3c and the output mirror 3d, and is output from the output mirror 3d. The laser pulse 4a emitted from the dye laser oscillator 3 enters the amplifier dye cell 5, is amplified by the amplifier dye cell 5, and is emitted as a laser pulse 4b.

The excitation pulse laser device 2A includes an oscillator excitation pulse laser device 22 for exciting the oscillator dye cell 3a and an amplifier excitation pulse laser device 23 for exciting the amplifier dye cell 5. Among them, the amplifier excitation pulse laser device 23 has an amplification system configuration including an amplifier excitation pulse laser oscillator 24 and an amplifier excitation pulse laser amplifier 25. Reference numerals 22a and 24a indicate total reflection mirrors, and reference numerals 22b and 24b indicate output mirrors. As the pulse laser device 22 for exciting the oscillator and the pulse laser device 23 for exciting the amplifier, at least one of a metal vapor laser device, an excimer laser device, and a solid-state laser device is used. These oscillator-excited pulse laser devices 22
An oscillation timing controller 26 is provided for adjusting the oscillation time difference between the pulse laser device 23 for pumping and the amplifier.

In the above laser device, the oscillation timing controller 26 first emits the excitation laser light 11 from the oscillator excitation pulse laser device 22, passes through the total reflection mirror 27 and the condenser lens 15 to enter the oscillator dye cell 3a, and I do. The laser pulse 4 a is emitted from the dye laser oscillator after the resonator round trip delay time and enters the amplifier dye cell 5.

On the other hand, after the resonator round trip delay time in the dye laser oscillator 3 by the oscillation timing controller 26, the excitation laser light 12 is emitted from the amplifier excitation pulse laser device 23, and passes through the total reflection mirror 28 and the condenser lens 19. Amplifier dye cell 5
Incident on Therefore, the laser pulse 4a from the dye laser oscillator 3 and the excitation laser beam 12 from the amplifier excitation pulse laser device 23 simultaneously enter the amplifier dye cell 5, and the amplified laser pulse 4b exits from the amplifier dye cell 5. Is done.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, it is not necessary to secure a long optical path length in order to set a delay time for the excitation laser light 12 incident on the amplifier dye cell 5, and the arrangement of the optical components,
The adjustment is greatly simplified and simplified, and qualitative changes such as a laser beam distortion effect and a spreading effect due to the provision of a long optical path length can be reduced. Further, even when the operation is performed while changing the wavelength or when the dye is exchanged, the optimal adjustment of the delay time can be easily performed.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In this laser device, a pulse laser device 22 for exciting an oscillator is used.
The excitation laser light 11 emitted from the optical fiber 30 enters the oscillator dye cell 3a through the optical fiber 30. Reference numerals 31 and 32 denote an optical fiber entrance and an optical fiber exit, respectively.

By causing the excitation laser light 11 to enter the oscillator dye cell 3a through the optical fiber 30, fluctuations in the oscillation wavelength and optical axis of the dye laser oscillator 3 due to minute vibration of the excitation laser light 11 can be greatly improved. On the other hand, when the excitation laser beam 12 to the amplifier dye cell 5 is passed through the optical fiber, the density of the excitation laser beam becomes too high, which may burn the optical fiber. Since a simple condensing system is unnecessary, the amplifier dye cell 5
No optical fiber is used.

In the laser device having such a configuration, in addition to the oscillation time delay, the light propagation time in the optical fiber 30 is substantially n times (n is the refractive index of the optical fiber 30) as compared with that in a vacuum or the atmosphere. Since the length of the optical fiber 30 is usually longer than the linear distance, the oscillator dye cell 3a and the amplifier dye cell 5
The required delay time between 10 and 20m is equivalent to the optical path length.
Is not uncommon. According to the present embodiment, the delay time can be set very easily even in the laser device using the optical fiber 30.

In the above embodiment, the amplifier dye cell 5 is 1
Although the description has been given of the case of two or more amplifiers, the same can be applied to two or more multistage amplification systems. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the pulse laser device 2A for excitation is described as a case where the pulse laser device 22 for oscillator excitation is a single unit and the two pulse laser devices 23 for amplifier excitation are connected in series.
The present invention is not limited to this, as long as the oscillation timing can be adjusted between the oscillator-excited pulse laser device 22 and the amplifier-excited pulse laser device 23.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, in the laser device according to the present invention, the dye laser oscillator forms a resonator from the grating arranged on one side of the oscillator dye cell and the emission mirror arranged on the other side, and the excitation pulse A laser device is provided with a pulse laser device for exciting an oscillator dye cell that excites an oscillator dye cell, and a pulse laser device for exciting an amplifier that excites an amplifier dye cell. The pulse laser device for exciting an oscillator and the pulse laser device for exciting an amplifier are provided. Since the oscillation timing controller for adjusting the oscillation time difference between the lasers is provided, in the dye laser oscillator in which the resonator is constituted by the grating and the emission mirror, the emission timing is delayed in the laser pulse emitted from the dye laser oscillator. The delay can be eliminated by adjusting the oscillation time difference with the oscillation timing controller. By adjusting the oscillation time difference with the oscillation timing controller, it is not necessary to provide a long optical path length to delay the light incident on the amplifier dye cell, and it is necessary to adjust the optical path length from the pulse laser device for amplifier excitation. Therefore, there is no need to adjust and set the optical path length, and it is not necessary to consider the distortion effect and the spread effect of the excitation laser light.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a laser device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional laser device. 1 ... Dye laser device, 2A ... Pulse laser device for excitation, 3 ... Dye laser oscillator, 3a ... Oscillator dye cell,
5 ... Amplifier dye cell, 22 ... Pulse laser device for oscillator excitation, 23 ... Pulse laser device for amplifier excitation, 26 ...
Oscillation timing controller, 30 ... optical fiber.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-14487 (JP, A) JP-A-2-180087 (JP, A) JP-A-3-229477 (JP, A) JP-A-4- 12586 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01S 3/00-3/30

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A dye laser device having a dye laser oscillator and an amplifier dye cell, and an excitation pulse laser device for exciting the dye laser oscillator and the amplifier dye cell, wherein the dye laser light oscillator has an excitation medium. In a laser device having a housed oscillator dye cell and gratings and emission mirrors which are respectively arranged on one side and the other side of the oscillator dye cell to form a resonator, the oscillator dye is provided in the excitation pulse laser device. A pulse laser device for exciting the cell; and a pulse laser device for exciting the amplifier dye cell, the oscillation between the pulse laser device for exciting the oscillator and the pulse laser device for exciting the amplifier. An oscillation timing controller for adjusting a time difference is provided.