JPH0416955B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an iodine laser device that can provide continuous and stable laser output for a long period of time.

[Conventional technology]

Recently, chemically excited iodine lasers (chemically
Research has been conducted on pumped iodine laser (CPIL),
Successfully generated high-power laser oscillation with a wavelength of 1.315μm. This CPIL has the advantage that it does not require electrical energy as a pumping source for laser oscillation, can oscillate with chemical fuel, and has a relatively simple structure.

The basic principle of CPIL is the energy transfer reaction according to the following equation.

O ₂ ^* ( ¹ Δ) + I ( ² P _3/2 ) O ₂
( ³ Σ) + I ^* ( ² P _1/2 )...(1) In equation (1), the reaction from the left side to the right side is fast, so pumping is performed efficiently and I ^* ( ² P _1/2 ) is generated. Ru.
This I ^* ( ² P _1/2 ) becomes the laser medium, and the wavelength
Generates a 1.315μm laser beam. The most important thing here is how efficiently O ₂ ^* ( ¹ Δ), which is the pumping source, is generated. The most efficient method currently known is the decomposition reaction of hydrogen peroxide shown by the following formula.

H ₂ O ₂ +2NaOH+Cl ₂ →O ₂ ^* +2H ₂ O+2
NaCl...(2) Add sodium hydroxide solution to a highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide solution to make it alkaline, and then bubble chlorine gas into this mixed solution to reduce O ₂ ^* ( ¹ Δ)
occurs easily.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Conventionally, in a chemically excited iodine laser device whose main components are an oxygen generator that generates excited oxygen and a laser resonator, a method is used to condense and remove water vapor generated from an alkaline hydrogen peroxide solution as ice. A water vapor trap is provided. However, conventional water vapor traps are batch-type;
When a large amount of ice adheres to or accumulates on the inner wall of the conduit, the operation must be stopped and the ice removed, resulting in the inconvenience that continuous operation is not possible. Furthermore, since the oxygen generator and the laser resonator were connected through a water vapor trap and a duct, there was also the disadvantage that the rate of deactivation of excited oxygen increased.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages, and is capable of removing and recovering ice that has adhered and accumulated steadily and continuously, and is also capable of reducing the deactivation rate of excited oxygen. The purpose of this invention is to provide an iodine laser device that can be used.

[Means for solving problems]

The iodine laser device according to the first invention of the present application will be described with reference to the drawings. A chemically excited iodine laser whose main component is a laser resonator 3 that introduces oxygen, supplies iodine therein, and excites the iodine through an energy transfer reaction from excited oxygen to iodine to obtain laser oscillation. In the apparatus, a water vapor trap 2 is disposed within the oxygen generator 1, and a laser resonator 3 is closely connected to the oxygen generator 1, and the water vapor trap 2 has a circular shape provided in a substantially horizontal direction. Fixed between a columnar or cylindrical rotating body 4, a large number of disks 5 provided substantially perpendicular to the rotating body, refrigerant passages 6 and 7 provided in the rotating body and within the disks, and a large number of disks 5. - Consists of a disposed ice scraping member 8.

Further, the iodine laser device according to the second invention of the present application will be described with reference to the drawings. Laser resonator 3 in which excited oxygen is introduced and iodine is supplied into it to excite the iodine through an energy transfer reaction from the excited oxygen to the iodine and obtain laser oscillation.
In a chemically excited iodine laser device having a main component, a water vapor trap 2 is disposed within the oxygen generator 1, and a laser resonator 3 is closely connected to the oxygen generator 1, The trap 2 includes a columnar or cylindrical rotating body 4 provided in a substantially horizontal direction, a large number of disks 5 provided substantially perpendicularly to this rotating body, and refrigerant passages 6 provided in the rotating body and the disks. , 7, and an adhering ice scraping member 8 fixed and arranged between a large number of disks 5, and further supplies an appropriate amount of hydrogen peroxide, alkali, and water to the upstream side of the oxygen generator 1. A solution component adjustment tank 26 for premixing is provided, and this solution component adjustment tank and an oxygen generator are connected via a solution circulation line 27 so that the solution partially reacted in the oxygen generator can be recovered. ing.

[Effect]

In the oxygen generator 1, excited oxygen is generated by bringing an alkaline hydrogen peroxide solution into contact with chlorine gas or a chlorine compound. This excited oxygen is introduced into the laser resonator 3, iodine gas is supplied into the excited oxygen together with a carrier gas such as argon gas or nitrogen gas, and the iodine is excited by an energy transfer reaction from the excited oxygen to iodine. Laser light is obtained by forming an inverted population between iodine atoms.

The water vapor generated in the oxygen generator 1 freezes on the surface of the disk 5 of the water vapor trap 2 and the surface of the rotating body 4, and the ice is scraped off by the adhering ice scraping member 8, and is removed into the solution in the oxygen generator 1. It falls and is recovered.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, unless there is a specific description, the shapes of the components described in this example, their relative positions, etc. are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to these, but are merely illustrative examples. Only.

1 and 2 show one embodiment of the invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes an oxygen generator for generating excited oxygen, and a disk-shaped water vapor trap 2 is disposed within this oxygen generator, and a laser resonator 3 is connected in close proximity to the oxygen generator.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the water vapor trap 2 includes a cylindrical rotating body 4 provided in a substantially horizontal direction, a large number of disks 5 provided substantially perpendicularly to this rotating body, and It also consists of refrigerant passages 6 and 7 provided within the disks, and a member 8 for scraping off adhering ice fixedly disposed between a large number of disks 5. 9 is a refrigerator. Note that it is also possible to make the rotating body cylindrical. The rotating body 4 is supported by bearings 10 and 11 on the outside of the side plate of the oxygen generator 1, and is configured to be rotationally driven at a low speed of about 5 rpm by a sprocket wheel 12 connected to a drive source (not shown). ing. 13 is a refrigerant inlet, 14 is a refrigerant outlet, 15 is a rotary joint, 16
is a chlorine gas header, 17 is a chlorine gas bubbling tube, 18 is a support member, 20 is a NaCl precipitation tank,
21 is a solution/NaCl extraction tube, 22 is an iodine injector, and 23 and 24 are reflecting mirrors.

In the iodine laser device configured as described above, in the oxygen generator 1, chlorine gas is bubbled from the chlorine gas bubbling tube 17 into the alkaline hydrogen peroxide solution 25 to generate excited oxygen. This excited oxygen contains water vapor as shown in equation (2) above, and since this water vapor deactivates the energy of iodine atoms, it is removed as ice by cooling it with a refrigerant in water vapor trap 2. . That is, by flowing the refrigerant into the passage 6 in the rotating body 4 that is rotating at a low speed and into the passage 7 in the disk 5 that is rotating at a low speed, the rotating body 4 is cooled.
Then, the disks 5 are cooled to adhere and accumulate ice on these surfaces, and the ice is scraped off by the adhering ice scraping member 8 which is fixed without rotating and falls into the solution in the oxygen generator 1. let Since the adhered ice scraping member 8 is placed in the solution,
It is possible to prevent scraped ice from flying toward the laser resonator 3.

As the refrigerant, for example, alcohol, trichlorethylene, methanol, fluorocarbon-based substances, etc. are used.

Excited oxygen from which water vapor has been removed is transferred to laser resonator 3.
The energy transfer reaction from excited oxygen to iodine is carried out by introducing iodine gas into excited oxygen and supplying it from the iodine injector 22 with iodine gas alone or together with a carrier gas (inert gas such as argon gas or nitrogen gas). Laser light can be obtained by exciting iodine and forming an inverted population between iodine atoms.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIG. In this example, in addition to the devices shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a solution component adjustment tank 26 is installed upstream of the oxygen generator 1 to supply and premix hydrogen peroxide, alkali, and water in appropriate amounts. This tank 26 and the oxygen generator 1 are connected via a solution circulation line 27 so that the solution partially reacted in the oxygen generator can be recovered. 28 is a chlorine cylinder, 30 is a nitrogen cylinder, 31 is an iodine vaporizer, 32 is a solution circulation pump, 33 is a NaCl trap, 34 is a steam trap, and 35 is a vacuum pump.

The solution that has partially reacted in the oxygen generator 1 is circulated and recovered by the solution circulation line 27 to the solution component adjustment tank 26, and the recovered solution in this tank 26 is newly added with hydrogen peroxide, alkali (NaOH, KOH, etc.) and Supply water and adjust to a predetermined concentration. Therefore, this example collects and circulates the water that increases with operation,
This has the advantage that the components of the solution supplied into the oxygen generator can be appropriately adjusted.

The gas discharged from the tank 26 is introduced into a vacuum pump 35 after removing water vapor in a water vapor trap 34 . On the other hand, the gas discharged from the laser resonator 3 is introduced into the vacuum pump 35 after removing iodine with an iodine trap (not shown), and is then converted into a mixed gas of oxygen gas and chlorine gas. Exhausted. This gas mixture is introduced into a chlorine trap (not shown) and treated. Note that a chlorine trap may be provided between the iodine trap and the vacuum pump.

The pressure at the inlet of the vacuum pump 35 is usually around 1 Torr, inside the laser resonator 3 around 1.2 Torr, and inside the oxygen generator 1 around 1.4 Torr. Further, the temperature inside the oxygen generator 1 is controlled to be around -20°C, and the temperature inside the tank 26 is also controlled to approximately the same temperature as the oxygen generator.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

(1) The steam trap is configured to be able to constantly remove and collect ice, allowing long-term operation and stable output.

(2) Since the distance between the oxygen generator and the laser resonator is short, the deactivation rate of excited oxygen is reduced.

(3) This enables high-pressure operation and allows the vacuum pump to be downsized to a fraction of the size of conventional vacuum pumps.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory longitudinal cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the iodine laser device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a disk-type water vapor trap in FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the same, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the iodine laser device of the present invention. It is an explanatory diagram. 1...Oxygen generator, 2...Steam trap, 3
... Laser resonator, 4 ... Rotating body, 5 ... Disk, 6, 7 ... Refrigerant passage, 8 ... Adhesive ice scraping member, 9 ... Refrigerator, 10, 11 ... Bearing, 12
... Sprocket wheel, 13 ... Refrigerant inlet,
14... Refrigerant outlet, 15... Rotating joint, 16...
Chlorine gas header, 17...Chlorine gas bubbling tube, 18...Support member, 20...NaCl precipitation tank, 21...Solution/NaCl extraction pipe, 22...Iodine injector, 23, 24...Reflection mirror, 2
5... Alkaline hydrogen peroxide solution, 26... Solution component adjustment tank, 27... Solution circulation line, 28...
Chlorine cylinder, 30...Nitrogen cylinder, 31...Iodine vaporizer, 32...Solution circulation pump, 33...
NaCl trap, 34...Water vapor trap, 35
……Vacuum pump.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An oxygen generator that generates excited oxygen by bringing an alkaline hydrogen peroxide solution into contact with chlorine or a chlorine compound; In a chemically excited iodine laser device whose main component is a laser resonator that excites iodine through an energy transfer reaction to iodine and obtains laser oscillation, a water vapor trap is disposed within the oxygen generator, and A laser resonator is connected in close proximity to an oxygen generator, and the water vapor trap is composed of a columnar or cylindrical rotating body installed approximately horizontally, and a large number of disks installed approximately perpendicularly to this rotating body. An iodine laser device comprising: a refrigerant passage provided in a rotating body and a disk; and an ice scraping member fixedly disposed between a number of disks. 2. An oxygen generator that generates excited oxygen by bringing an alkaline hydrogen peroxide solution into contact with chlorine or a chlorine compound, and introducing this excited oxygen and supplying iodine therein to transfer energy from excited oxygen to iodine. In a chemically excited iodine laser device whose main component is a laser resonator that excites iodine through a reaction and obtains laser oscillation, a water vapor trap is provided within the oxygen generator, and a water vapor trap is provided in close proximity to the oxygen generator. The water vapor trap includes a cylindrical or cylindrical rotating body installed in a substantially horizontal direction, a large number of disks installed approximately perpendicularly to the rotating body, and a plurality of disks and the rotating body. It consists of a refrigerant passage provided in the interior and an ice scraping member fixed and arranged between a number of disks. Furthermore, hydrogen peroxide, alkali, and water are newly added to the upstream side of the oxygen generator. A solution component adjustment tank for supplying and premixing an appropriate amount is provided, and this solution component adjustment tank and an oxygen generator are connected via a solution circulation line so that the solution partially reacted in the oxygen generator can be recovered. Iodine laser equipment.