Gas laser assembly which is capable of emitting stabilized frequency pulse radiations
First Claim
1. A gas laser assembly which is capable of emitting frequency stabilized pulse radiation, said assembly including:
- a first gas laser generator comprising two reflectors disposed to form a first optical resonant cavity, a first piezoelectric component provided with electrodes so as to cause the length of the cavity to vary by applying a variable voltage to said electrodes, one of said two reflectors being fixed on said first piezoelectric component, one of said reflectors being partially transparent;
a first active gas disposed inside the first cavity; and
means for exciting the first active gas to obtain a continuous laser beam which passes through the partially transparent reflector;
a second gas laser generator comprising two reflectors disposed to form a second optical resonant cavity, a second piezoelectric component made of a piezoelectric substance provided with electrodes so as to cause the length of the cavity to vary by applying a variable voltage to said electrodes, one of said two second gas laser generator reflectors being fixed on said second piezoelectric component, both reflectors of the second gas laser generator being partially transparent;
a second active gas disposed inside the second optical resonant cavity; and
means for exciting the second active gas to obtain pulse radiation which passes through the reflectors of the second cavity;
means for causing at least part of the energy of the continuous laser beam to pass through the second cavity;
means for applying a biasing voltage to the electrodes of the first piezoelectric component so as to keep the frequency of the continuous laser beam constant; and
means for applying a biasing voltage to the electrodes of the second piezoelectric component so as to stabilize the frequency of said pulse radiation; and
wherein the gas laser assembly further includes a support formed by a single block of homogenous solid material whose coefficient of expansion is low, said support including two plane surfaces which are parallel to each other and on which are fixed firstly the first and second piezoelectric components which are respectively integral with two reflectors of said first and second cavities and secondly the other reflectors of said cavities, the first and second piezoelectric components being identical to each other so that the length of the first cavity is equal to that of the second cavity; and
wherein said means for applying a bias voltage on the electrodes of the second piezoelectric component comprise means for connecting the electrodes of the first piezoelectric component in parallel with those of the second piezoelectric component.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to a gas laser assembly which is capable of emitting stabilized frequency pulse radiation. Said arrangement includes a first continuous gas laser generator and a second pulse gas laser generator, an optical system (19, 56, 20) to inject the continuous beam (18) emitted by the first laser generator via the optical cavity (8-9) of the second laser generator and a servo control circuit (21,23,24,25) acting in synchronism on the length of the cavities (5-6,8-9) of the first and second lasers, so as to keep these lengths equal at a fixed value. Application to range finders operating by heterodyne detection.
14 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A gas laser assembly which is capable of emitting frequency stabilized pulse radiation, said assembly including:
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a first gas laser generator comprising two reflectors disposed to form a first optical resonant cavity, a first piezoelectric component provided with electrodes so as to cause the length of the cavity to vary by applying a variable voltage to said electrodes, one of said two reflectors being fixed on said first piezoelectric component, one of said reflectors being partially transparent;
a first active gas disposed inside the first cavity; and
means for exciting the first active gas to obtain a continuous laser beam which passes through the partially transparent reflector;a second gas laser generator comprising two reflectors disposed to form a second optical resonant cavity, a second piezoelectric component made of a piezoelectric substance provided with electrodes so as to cause the length of the cavity to vary by applying a variable voltage to said electrodes, one of said two second gas laser generator reflectors being fixed on said second piezoelectric component, both reflectors of the second gas laser generator being partially transparent;
a second active gas disposed inside the second optical resonant cavity; and
means for exciting the second active gas to obtain pulse radiation which passes through the reflectors of the second cavity;means for causing at least part of the energy of the continuous laser beam to pass through the second cavity; means for applying a biasing voltage to the electrodes of the first piezoelectric component so as to keep the frequency of the continuous laser beam constant; and means for applying a biasing voltage to the electrodes of the second piezoelectric component so as to stabilize the frequency of said pulse radiation; and wherein the gas laser assembly further includes a support formed by a single block of homogenous solid material whose coefficient of expansion is low, said support including two plane surfaces which are parallel to each other and on which are fixed firstly the first and second piezoelectric components which are respectively integral with two reflectors of said first and second cavities and secondly the other reflectors of said cavities, the first and second piezoelectric components being identical to each other so that the length of the first cavity is equal to that of the second cavity; and
wherein said means for applying a bias voltage on the electrodes of the second piezoelectric component comprise means for connecting the electrodes of the first piezoelectric component in parallel with those of the second piezoelectric component. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification