Solid state lasers with spherical resonators
First Claim
1. A laser apparatus comprising:
- a laser gain medium formed in the shape of a solid sphere;
pumping means operatively associated with the gain medium for exciting a pumping volume in the sphere;
a resonant cavity formed within and entirely enclosed within the sphere wherein laser radiation having spherical modes of oscillation is produced when the gain medium in the pumping volume is excited by the pumping means;
output coupling means for removing a portion of the laser radiation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A nonstandard spherical resonator which produces laser radiation having spherical modes of oscillation is formed entirely within a sphere of laser gain material. The resonator is pumped to produce the spherical modes. By pumping an isotropically coated sphere at normal incidence the entire sphere forms the resonator, and the laser radiates uniformly in all directions as from a point source. By pumping obliquely to totally internally reflect the laser radiation at the surface of the sphere, or by applying an equatorial coating on the sphere to internally reflect the laser radiation, toroidal region within the sphere forms the resonator. The pumping volume can be controlled so that the laser radiation is single longitudinal mode and single frequency by limiting the active mode volume. Prisms can be used for input and output coupling to the toroidal resonator; and optical fiber can also be used for output coupling. A compact laser design uses a Nd:YAG sphere pumped by a laser diode. The spherical resonators can be used for traking, holography, levelling and ring laser gyroscope applications. The toroidal resonator forms an ideal ring laser for use as a gyroscope; a sphere with three orthongonal toroidal resonators provides three degree of freedom measurement capability.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A laser apparatus comprising:
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a laser gain medium formed in the shape of a solid sphere; pumping means operatively associated with the gain medium for exciting a pumping volume in the sphere; a resonant cavity formed within and entirely enclosed within the sphere wherein laser radiation having spherical modes of oscillation is produced when the gain medium in the pumping volume is excited by the pumping means; output coupling means for removing a portion of the laser radiation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A three degree of freedom laser gyroscope, comprising:
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a laser gain medium formed in the shape of a solid sphere; pumping means operatively associated with the gain medium; three orthogonal toroidal resonant cavities formed within and entirely enclosed within the sphere when the gain medium in each cavity is pumped by the pumping means; detector means operatively connected to each of the three toroidal resonator cavities to detect variations in the laser radiation produced in each cavity by rotation of the sphere.
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15. A method of producing laser radiation, comprising:
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forming a laser gain medium into a solid sphere; forming a laser resonant cavity within the sphere of gain material which produces laser radiation having spherical modes of oscillation; pumping a pumping volume in the gain medium in the cavity to produce an active mode volume in the resonant cavity; removing laser radiation from the cavity. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification