A method for shortening the response time of solid-state laser

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser, and belongs to the technical field of solid-state lasers. The solid-state laser is in a startup phase, a preparation phase, a standby phase and a light-emitting phase in sequence within the response time. The present invention shortens the power-on time of the solid-state laser in the startup phase by systematically optimizing the design and process control of an electric control system, a thermal control system and a solid-state laser, strengthens the heat dissipation capacity of the solid-state laser during high waste heat in the preparation phase and the standby phase, improves the cooling effect of the thermal control system, improves the electro-optical conversion efficiency of the solid-state laser, reduces the influence of thermal fluctuations on the solid-state laser, and thus significantly shortens the response time of the solid-state laser in the light-emitting phase, so as to be applicable to the high demands of certain military applications.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of solid lasers, and in particular relates to a method for shortening the response time of a solid laser. Background Art

[0002] Solid-state lasers have the advantages of small size, high reliability, easy maintenance, high efficiency, etc. They have irreplaceable advantages in pulse modulation, wavelength tuning and many other aspects. At the same time, they have been widely used in national production. In recent years, military applications have continuously put forward new requirements for the power and beam quality of solid-state lasers. In particular, solid-state lasers need to meet the application requirements of "immediately emitting light upon receiving the light emission instruction" and continuously shorten the response time between receiving the light emission instruction and achieving the rated power output of solid-state lasers.

[0003] After decades of development, researchers have improved the power and beam quality of solid-state lasers through various technical means, for example, from the selection of gain media (Nd, Yb), the configuration of laser crystals (rods, strips), and the optical design of lasers (resonant cavity, amplifiers). However, there has been no systematic research and method for the response time of solid-state lasers, especially for methods to shorten the response time. The response time of a solid-state laser can be defined as the interval from receiving the light-emitting instruction to the stable output of the rated power of the laser. In order to avoid risks and prolong life, solid-state lasers generally adopt a method of gradual loading to gradually increase the output power to the rated index, and the response time is usually several seconds to several minutes. If "one-button light emission" is forcibly achieved, various adverse factors caused by the instantaneous large amount of heat accumulation in the solid-state laser may damage various optical devices and cause permanent damage to the solid-state laser. Summary of the invention

[0004] In order to solve the contradictory problem between the response time of solid-state lasers and the reliability of optical devices, the inventors optimized the structure and process of the electronic control system, solid-state laser, and thermal control system, shortening the response time of the solid-state laser from multiple levels and multiple processes to meet specific application requirements.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

[0006] A method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser, wherein the solid-state laser is in a startup phase, a preparation phase, a standby phase and a light emitting phase in sequence during the response time;

[0007] During the startup phase, the solid-state laser is powered on by an electric control system, and the electric control system adopts an architecture mode combining a host computer and a slave computer to shorten the power-on time of the solid-state laser;

[0008] In the preparation stage, the electrical control system supplies power to itself and the thermal control system and performs self-tests. The thermal control system controls the heat load of the laser diode and the solid-state laser at a set temperature to reduce temperature fluctuations.

[0009] In the standby stage, the electric control system and the thermal control system continue to work, and the solid-state laser is preloaded, so that the pump power of the laser diode is lower than the light-emitting threshold of the solid-state laser, so as to shorten the thermal equilibrium time of the gain medium in the light-emitting stage;

[0010] In the light emission stage, the solid-state laser achieves full loading and full output.

[0011] Preferably, the host computer runs on a computer control terminal, which is used to set the setting parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser. Specifically, the setting parameters include the operating temperature of the thermal control system, the upper and lower limits of the temperature protection of the thermal control system, the operating current of the solid-state laser and the upper and lower limits of the operating current, the operating voltage of the solid-state laser and the upper and lower limits of the operating voltage, and real-time monitoring of the operating parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser. Specifically, the operating parameters include: the temperature of the inlet and outlet of the refrigeration circuit of the thermal control system, the real-time temperature of the heat load of the solid-state laser, the operating current and the operating voltage of the solid-state laser. The lower computer runs on the control board chip of the electronic control system, which is communicatively connected with the host computer and the thermal control system, and is used to receive instructions sent by the host computer and transmit them to the solid-state laser, collect the operating parameters of the solid-state laser, receive the operating parameters of the thermal control system and upload the operating parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser to the host computer.

[0012] Preferably, the lower computer converts the working current of the solid-state laser set by the upper computer into corresponding voltage parameters and gives them to a specific circuit, thereby outputting the corresponding working current. At the same time, the lower computer sets the circuit protection parameters of the solid-state laser, such as overvoltage, overcurrent, and undervoltage of the input circuit; overvoltage, overcurrent, undervoltage, and undercurrent of the output circuit; and overtemperature protection of the output circuit.

[0013] Preferably, the instructions sent by the host computer are divided into setting instructions, communication query instructions and light output instructions, the setting instructions are used to set the setting parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser, and the communication query instructions are used to monitor the operating parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser.

[0014] Preferably, the lower computer receives instructions sent by the upper computer and operating parameters sent by the thermal control system by means of communication interruption. That is, when the main thread of the lower computer receives new instructions sent by the upper computer or operating parameters sent by the thermal control system, the main loop is paused to execute the new instructions or store the operating parameters. Among them, the communication interruption with the upper computer has the highest priority among all its communication interruptions.

[0015] Preferably, the main thread is a thread responsible for processing the entire lower computer logic.

[0016] Preferably, after receiving the light emitting instruction sent by the upper computer, the lower computer immediately executes the instruction in the interrupt function.

[0017] Preferably, after receiving the operating parameters sent by the thermal control system, the lower computer stores them in the first cache area. After collecting the operating parameters of the solid-state laser, the lower computer stores them in the second cache area. In the main loop of the lower computer, the first cache area and the second cache area send the operating parameters to the upper computer.

[0018] Preferably, in the main loop of the lower computer, the first buffer area and the second buffer area use a fixed frame and fixed frequency method to send the operating parameters of the solid-state laser and the thermal control system.

[0019] Preferably, the refrigeration circuit of the thermal control system adopts a dual temperature zone structure, the dual temperature zone includes a main temperature zone and an auxiliary temperature zone with a temperature lower than the main temperature zone, and the heat generated by the instantaneous high heat of the heat load is offset by the temperature difference between the dual temperature zones.

[0020] Preferably, the refrigeration circuit includes a compressor, a liquid storage tank and a heat exchanger connected by pipelines. The heat exchanger exchanges heat with the heat load of the solid laser, and the heat exchanger adopts a dual temperature zone structure. The flow channel of the cooling medium between the main temperature zone and the auxiliary temperature zone is controlled by a solenoid valve.

[0021] Preferably, the thermal control system collects the temperature of the cooling medium in the main temperature zone in real time. When the temperature of the cooling medium in the main temperature zone is higher than the set temperature, the solenoid valve opens, opening the communication channel between the main temperature zone and the auxiliary temperature zone, and the cooling medium in the auxiliary temperature zone flows to the main temperature zone to offset the heat generated by the instantaneous high heat of the heat load. When the temperature of the cooling medium in the main temperature zone is lower than the set temperature, the solenoid valve closes, cutting off the communication channel between the main temperature zone and the auxiliary temperature zone. Through dynamic matching, closed-loop control and real-time monitoring measures, the temperature stability of the cooling medium in the main temperature zone is improved, thereby improving the refrigeration effect of the thermal control system and reducing the temperature fluctuation of the heat load in the solid-state laser.

[0022] Preferably, the cooling medium is a liquid with high heat capacity and strong fluidity. At the same time, in order to reduce the sudden change of the cooling medium caused by the instantaneous thermal shock of heat load loading, the volume of the cooling medium should be appropriately increased if conditions permit.

[0023] Preferably, the laser diode is welded on a heat conductor, a microchannel is welded on the heat conductor, the heat generated by the laser diode enters the microchannel, the coolant enters the microchannel and is in full contact with the microchannel, and the heat is carried away by the coolant flowing through the microchannel through forced heat conduction.

[0024] Preferably, the heat conductor is a copper heat conductor.

[0025] Preferably, in view of the fact that the emission wavelength of the laser diode is related to temperature, in order to improve the matching degree between the emission wavelength of the laser diode and the absorption peak of the gain medium in the solid-state laser, a wavelength-locked laser diode should be selected, that is, the emission wavelength of the laser diode does not substantially change with temperature. At the same time, the gain medium in the solid-state laser adopts a side-pumping or end-pumping structure to improve the electro-optical conversion efficiency of the solid-state laser, reduce waste heat, and thus shorten the thermal equilibrium time.

[0026] Preferably, the gain medium can be directly liquid-cooled or conductively cooled by a laser diode. In addition, in order to maintain the temperature uniformity inside the gain medium and reduce adverse factors such as thermal gradients, the gain medium can also adopt multi-temperature zone heat dissipation measures to enhance the heat dissipation capacity of the solid-state laser during high waste heat periods and shorten its thermal equilibrium time under instantaneous pumping by the laser diode.

[0027] Preferably, in view of the non-uniformity of heat generation inside the gain medium, the heat flux density will be different due to the difference in pump power and doping concentration, thermal conductivity and size of the gain medium. A cooling liquid with a slightly lower temperature is used for the high heat flux density area, while a cooling liquid with a relatively higher temperature is used for the low heat flux density area. Therefore, the high heat flux density area can reach thermal equilibrium with the low heat flux density area in time, thereby shortening the light output response time caused by the thermal equilibrium time of the entire system.

[0028] Preferably, in the preparation stage, the lower computer performs self-test and feeds back the self-test data to the upper computer, compares the self-test data with the parameters set by the upper computer, and determines the next thread that the lower computer enters. The next thread includes a main loop, fault handling, and receiving information. The received information is the instructions sent by the upper computer or the operating parameters sent by the thermal control system.

[0029] Preferably, when the self-test data is higher than the parameter set by the upper computer, the lower computer performs a fault handling thread, otherwise, the lower computer enters a main loop or receives information thread.

[0030] In terms of the loading method of solid-state lasers, the traditional step-by-step loading method is mainly to protect the damage caused by instantaneous high heat of optical devices, so that the heat generation process of solid-state lasers is distributed. This loading method obviously cannot quickly achieve the full output of solid-state lasers, and the response time will be very long. For the direct loading method, the instantaneous high heat effect will cause greater risks to the devices of solid-state lasers, reducing the life and reliability of the devices. In addition, the relaxation process from the instantaneous thermal effect to thermal equilibrium will usually cause large fluctuations in the output power and beam quality of solid-state lasers, and will not be stable until thermal equilibrium is reached.

[0031] Therefore, in order to solve the problems existing in the traditional loading method, the inventor proposed a preloading method. In the preloading state, the thermal balance of the solid laser has tended to the stable state under full loading, and there are no problems caused by the above two traditional loading methods, which can effectively shorten the response time of the solid laser. The details are as follows:

[0032] When the solid-state laser is a resonant cavity type solid-state laser, a resonant cavity preloading mode is adopted in the standby stage.

[0033] When the solid-state laser is an amplifier-type solid-state laser (which includes a master oscillator and an amplifier), since the loading power of the amplifier is usually much greater than that of the master oscillator, the thermal effect of the amplifier is much greater than that of the master oscillator, and its thermal equilibrium time is also much longer than that of the master oscillator. Therefore, in the standby stage, the amplifier is preloaded and the master oscillator is not loaded, so that the thermal distribution of the gain medium is similar to that when it is fully working. Since the master oscillator is not loaded (that is, there is no seed light), the amplifier does not output laser. After the solid-state laser receives the light output instruction, the master oscillator uses direct loading to achieve full loading. Due to the injection of seed light, the amplifier amplifies the seed light to the rated power output. At this time, the thermal equilibrium state of the amplifier is basically the same as that during standby preloading. Therefore, the response time of the solid-state laser will be significantly shortened.

[0034] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0035] Systematic optimization design and process control of the electrical control system, thermal control system and solid-state laser can shorten the power-on time of the solid-state laser, enhance the heat dissipation capacity of the solid-state laser during high waste heat periods, improve the cooling effect of the thermal control system, improve the electro-optical conversion efficiency of the solid-state laser, and reduce the impact of thermal fluctuations on the solid-state laser, thereby significantly shortening the response time of the solid-state laser to meet the high demands of certain military applications. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] Figure 1 It is the overall flow chart of the present invention;

[0037] Figure 2 It is the working flow chart of the electronic control system;

[0038] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the dual temperature zone structure;

[0039] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of a gain medium adopting a multi-temperature zone structure;

[0040] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the preloading method. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solution of the present invention, the technical solution of the present invention is clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the present invention. Based on the embodiments in this application, other similar embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative work should all fall within the scope of protection of this application. In addition, the directional words mentioned in the following embodiments, such as "up", "down", "left", "right", etc., are only reference to the directions of the accompanying drawings. Therefore, the directional words used are used to illustrate rather than limit the invention.

[0042] Embodiment 1:

[0043] A method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser, wherein the solid-state laser is in a startup phase, a preparation phase, a standby phase and a light emitting phase in sequence during the response time, and the measures taken in the above-mentioned phases are as follows:

[0044] During the startup phase, the solid-state laser is powered on by the electrical control system to shorten the power-on time of the solid-state laser. During the preparation phase, the electrical control system supplies power to itself and the thermal control system and performs self-inspection. The thermal control system controls the thermal load of the laser diode and the solid-state laser (mainly the gain medium) at a set temperature to reduce temperature fluctuations. During the standby phase, the electrical control system and the thermal control system continue to work, and the solid-state laser is preloaded to cause the pump power of the laser diode to be lower than the light-emitting threshold of the solid-state laser to shorten the thermal equilibrium time of the gain medium during the light-emitting phase. During the light-emitting phase, the solid-state laser is fully loaded and fully output. In other words, the response time of the solid-state laser is shortened from multiple levels and multiple processes to meet specific application requirements. Among them, during the response time, the working processes of the electrical control system, the thermal control system, and the solid-state laser are as follows: Figure 1 shown.

[0045] The electronic control system adopts an architecture mode combining a host computer and a slave computer, which mainly realizes software communication and hardware conversion functions. In addition to receiving light emission instructions, software communication also monitors and feedbacks the operating parameters of the solid-state laser and thermal control system. The hardware conversion function mainly includes powering the thermal control system and the solid-state laser. By optimizing the software process of the electronic control system, the time from obtaining the light emission instruction to powering the laser diode in the solid-state laser can be shortened.

[0046] The optimization measures are as follows:

[0047] The host computer runs on the computer control end, which is used to set the setting parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser. Specifically, the setting parameters include the operating temperature of the thermal control system, the upper and lower limits of the temperature protection of the thermal control system, the operating current of the solid-state laser and the upper and lower limits of the operating current, the operating voltage of the solid-state laser and the upper and lower limits of the operating voltage, and real-time monitoring of the operating parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser. Specifically, the operating parameters include: the temperature of the inlet and outlet of the refrigeration circuit of the thermal control system, the real-time temperature of the heat load of the solid-state laser, the operating current and the operating voltage of the solid-state laser. The lower computer runs on the control board chip of the electric control system, which is connected to the host computer and the thermal control system for communication, and is used to receive the instructions sent by the host computer and transmit them to the solid-state laser, collect the operating parameters of the solid-state laser, receive the operating parameters of the thermal control system and upload the operating parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser to the host computer. The instructions sent by the host computer are divided into setting instructions and communication query instructions. The setting instructions are used to set the setting parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser, and the communication query instructions are used to monitor the operating parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser.

[0048] The lower computer converts the working current of the solid laser set by the upper computer into the corresponding voltage parameter given to the specific circuit, so as to output the corresponding working current. At the same time, the lower computer sets the circuit protection parameters of the solid laser, such as overvoltage, overcurrent, and undervoltage of the input circuit; overvoltage, overcurrent, undervoltage, and undercurrent of the output circuit; and overtemperature protection of the output circuit. In the startup phase, the electric control system performs input circuit protection judgment after power-on. When the judgment fails, fault processing is performed (at the same time, the indicator light prompts the fault). After the judgment passes, in the preparation phase, the lower computer performs self-test and feeds back the self-test data to the upper computer, compares the self-test data with the parameters set by the upper computer, and determines the next step thread entered by the lower computer. The next step thread includes the main loop, fault processing (at the same time, the indicator light prompts the fault) and receiving information. The received information is to receive the instructions sent by the upper computer or the operating parameters sent by the thermal control system. When the self-test data is higher than the parameters set by the upper computer, the lower computer performs the fault processing thread. Otherwise, the self-test passes, and the lower computer enters the main loop or receives information thread.

[0049] At the same time, the lower computer adopts a communication interruption method to receive instructions sent by the upper computer and operating parameters sent by the thermal control system. That is, when the main thread of the lower computer (the main thread is the thread responsible for processing the entire logic of the lower computer) receives a new instruction sent by the upper computer or an operating parameter sent by the thermal control system, the main loop is paused to execute the new instruction or store the operating parameters. Among them, the communication interruption with the upper computer has the highest priority among all its communication interruptions. For example, after receiving the light-emitting instruction sent by the upper computer, the lower computer immediately executes the instruction in the interrupt function.

[0050] In addition, after the lower computer receives the operating parameters sent by the thermal control system, it stores them in the first buffer area. After the lower computer collects the operating parameters of the solid-state laser, it stores them in the second buffer area. In the main loop of the lower computer, the first buffer area and the second buffer area send the operating parameters to the upper computer. In the main loop of the lower computer, the first buffer area and the second buffer area use a fixed frame and fixed frequency method to send the operating parameters of the solid-state laser and the thermal control system. Among them, the workflow of the electronic control system is as follows Figure 2 shown.

[0051] Embodiment 2:

[0052] The thermal control system mainly realizes temperature control and heat dissipation of the laser diode and the gain medium. In order to reduce the thermal equilibrium time of the laser diode and the gain medium (the main factor affecting the response time of the entire solid-state laser), on the one hand, it is necessary to increase the heat dissipation capacity of the thermal control system and reduce the temperature change of the cooling medium. On the other hand, it is necessary to increase the heat exchange capacity of the thermal control system and take away as much waste heat as possible from the laser diode and the solid-state laser as quickly as possible.

[0053] The optimization measures are as follows:

[0054] like Figure 3 As shown, the refrigeration circuit of the thermal control system adopts a dual-temperature zone structure, and the dual-temperature zone includes a main temperature zone and an auxiliary temperature zone with a temperature lower than the main temperature zone. The temperature difference between the dual temperature zones offsets the heat generated by the instantaneous high heat of the heat load. Specifically, the refrigeration circuit includes a compressor, a liquid storage tank and a heat exchanger connected by a pipeline. The heat exchanger exchanges heat with the heat load of the solid laser, and the heat exchanger adopts a dual-temperature zone structure. The flow channel of the cooling medium between the main temperature zone and the auxiliary temperature zone is controlled by a solenoid valve. The thermal control system collects the temperature of the cooling medium in the main temperature zone in real time. When the temperature of the cooling medium in the main temperature zone is higher than the set temperature, the solenoid valve opens, opens the communication channel between the main temperature zone and the auxiliary temperature zone, and the cooling medium in the auxiliary temperature zone flows to the main temperature zone to offset the heat generated by the instantaneous high heat of the heat load. When the temperature of the cooling medium in the main temperature zone is lower than the set temperature, the solenoid valve closes, cutting off the communication channel between the main temperature zone and the auxiliary temperature zone. Through dynamic matching, closed-loop control and real-time monitoring measures, the temperature stability of the cooling medium in the main temperature zone is improved, thereby improving the cooling effect of the thermal control system and reducing the temperature fluctuation of the thermal load in the solid laser. Among them, the cooling medium uses a liquid with high heat capacity and strong fluidity. At the same time, in order to reduce the sudden change of the cooling medium caused by the instantaneous thermal shock of the heat load, the volume of the cooling medium should be appropriately increased if conditions permit.

[0055] At the same time, the laser diode is welded on a heat conductor, which is preferably a copper heat conductor, and a microchannel is welded on the heat conductor. The heat generated by the laser diode enters the microchannel, and the coolant fully contacts the microchannel after entering the microchannel, and the heat is taken away by the coolant flowing through the microchannel through forced heat conduction. In view of the fact that the emission wavelength of the laser diode is related to temperature, in order to improve the matching degree between the emission wavelength of the laser diode and the absorption peak of the gain medium in the solid laser, a wavelength-locked laser diode should be selected, that is, the emission wavelength of the laser diode does not change substantially with the change of temperature. At the same time, the gain medium in the solid laser adopts a side pumping or end pumping structure to improve the electro-optical conversion efficiency of the solid laser, reduce waste heat, and thus shorten the thermal equilibrium time.

[0056] In addition, the gain medium can be cooled by direct liquid cooling or by conduction cooling of the laser diode. In view of the uneven heat generation inside the gain medium, the heat flux density will vary due to the pump power and doping concentration, thermal conductivity and size of the gain medium. In order to maintain the temperature uniformity inside the gain medium and reduce adverse factors such as thermal gradients, the gain medium adopts multi-temperature zone heat dissipation measures, such as Figure 4 As shown, the gain medium is divided into temperature zone 1, temperature zone 2 and temperature zone 3. A cooling liquid with a slightly lower temperature is used for the high heat flux density area (such as temperature zone 2), while a cooling liquid with a relatively higher temperature is used for the low heat flux density area (such as temperature zone 1 and temperature zone 3). Therefore, the high heat flux density area can reach thermal equilibrium with the low heat flux density area in time, enhance the heat dissipation capacity of the solid laser during the high waste heat period, shorten its thermal equilibrium time under the instantaneous pumping of the laser diode, and thus shorten the light output response time caused by the thermal equilibrium time.

[0057] Embodiment three:

[0058] The solid-state laser is a core device for realizing laser output, and its main function is to generate laser output with high beam quality by energy level transition of laser diode. In order to reduce the light response time of solid-state laser, first of all, it is necessary to improve the conversion efficiency from diode laser to solid-state laser (this part has been described in Example 2 to improve the matching degree of laser diode and gain medium), reduce the generation of waste heat, and thus reduce the thermal equilibrium time in solid-state laser. Secondly, since waste heat in solid-state laser is unavoidable, in the time interval when diode laser is fully loaded to the stable output of solid-state laser, the focusing or distortion effect caused by heat and thermal effect in gain medium will cause the power and spot shape of output laser to shake, and stable output can be achieved only after gain medium reaches thermal equilibrium. Therefore, thermal effect compensation measures can be added to solid-state laser to increase its stability during the dynamic change of gain medium temperature, so that solid-state laser does not change greatly due to thermal effect.

[0059] The optimization measures are as follows:

[0060] In terms of the loading method of solid-state lasers, the traditional step-by-step loading method is mainly to protect the damage caused by instantaneous high heat of optical devices, so that the heat generation process of solid-state lasers is distributed. This loading method obviously cannot quickly achieve the full output of solid-state lasers, and the response time will be very long. For the direct loading method, the instantaneous high heat effect will cause greater risks to the devices of solid-state lasers, reduce the life and reliability of the devices, and the relaxation process from the instantaneous thermal effect to thermal equilibrium, the output power and beam quality of the solid-state laser will usually fluctuate greatly, and the output will not be stable until thermal equilibrium is reached. Therefore, in order to solve the problems existing in the traditional loading method, the inventor proposed a pre-loading method, such as Figure 5 As shown, in the pre-loaded state, the thermal balance of the solid-state laser has tended to a stable state under full loading, and the problems caused by the above two traditional loading methods do not exist, which can effectively shorten the response time of the solid-state laser.

[0061] The specific preloading method is as follows: when the solid-state laser is a resonant cavity solid-state laser, the resonant cavity preloading mode is adopted in the standby stage. The preloaded pump power can be below the light output threshold, or it can be more finely controlled according to the heat generation ratio and extraction efficiency of the solid-state laser.

[0062] When the solid-state laser is an amplifier-type solid-state laser (which includes a master oscillator and an amplifier), since the loading power of the amplifier is usually much greater than that of the master oscillator, the thermal effect of the amplifier is much greater than that of the master oscillator, and its thermal equilibrium time is also much longer than that of the master oscillator. Therefore, in the standby stage, the amplifier is preloaded and the master oscillator is not loaded, so that the thermal distribution of the gain medium is similar to that when it is fully working. Since the master oscillator is not loaded (that is, there is no seed light), the amplifier does not output laser. After the solid-state laser receives the light output instruction, the master oscillator uses direct loading to achieve full loading. Due to the injection of seed light, the amplifier amplifies the seed light to the rated power output. At this time, the thermal equilibrium state of the amplifier is basically the same as that during standby preloading. Therefore, the response time of the solid-state laser will be significantly shortened.

[0063] The present invention has been described in detail above. The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and should not limit the scope of implementation of the present invention. That is, all equivalent changes and modifications made within the scope of this application should still fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser, characterized in that: The solid-state laser is in the startup stage, preparation stage, standby stage and light emitting stage in sequence during the response time; During the startup phase, the solid-state laser is powered on by an electric control system, and the electric control system adopts an architecture mode combining a host computer and a slave computer to shorten the power-on time of the solid-state laser; In the preparation stage, the electrical control system supplies power to itself and the thermal control system and performs self-tests. The thermal control system controls the heat load in the laser diode and the solid-state laser at a set temperature to reduce temperature fluctuations. In the standby stage, the electric control system and the thermal control system continue to work, and the solid-state laser is preloaded, so that the pump power of the laser diode is lower than the light-emitting threshold of the solid-state laser, so as to shorten the thermal equilibrium time of the gain medium in the light-emitting stage; In the light-emitting stage, the solid-state laser achieves full loading and full output; The refrigeration circuit of the thermal control system adopts a dual temperature zone structure, wherein the dual temperature zones include a main temperature zone and an auxiliary temperature zone whose temperature is lower than the main temperature zone, and the heat generated by the instantaneous high heat of the heat load is offset by the temperature difference between the dual temperature zones. When the temperature of the cooling medium in the main temperature zone is higher than the set temperature, the communication channel between the main temperature zone and the auxiliary temperature zone is opened, and the cooling medium in the auxiliary temperature zone flows to the main temperature zone to offset the heat generated by the instantaneous high heat of the heat load. When the temperature of the cooling medium in the main temperature zone is lower than the set temperature, the communication channel between the main temperature zone and the auxiliary temperature zone is cut off; The laser diode is welded on the heat conductor, and the microchannel is welded on the heat conductor. The heat generated by the laser diode enters the microchannel. After the coolant enters the microchannel, it is in full contact with the microchannel, and the heat is taken away by the coolant flowing through the microchannel through forced heat conduction.

2. The method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser according to claim 1, characterized in that: The host computer runs on the computer control end, which is used to set the setting parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser, and monitor the operating parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser in real time. The slave computer runs on the control board chip of the electronic control system, which is communicated with the host computer and the thermal control system, and is used to receive instructions sent by the host computer and transmit them to the solid-state laser, collect the operating parameters of the solid-state laser, receive the operating parameters of the thermal control system and upload the operating parameters of the thermal control system and the solid-state laser to the host computer.

3. The method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser according to claim 2, characterized in that: The lower computer receives the instructions sent by the upper computer and the operating parameters sent by the thermal control system in a communication interruption mode, and the communication interruption with the upper computer has the highest priority among all its communication interruptions.

4. The method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser according to claim 3, characterized in that: After the lower computer receives the operating parameters sent by the thermal control system, it stores them in the first cache area. After the lower computer collects the operating parameters of the solid laser, it stores them in the second cache area. In the main loop of the lower computer, the first cache area and the second cache area send the operating parameters to the upper computer.

5. The method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser according to claim 1, characterized in that: The laser diode is a wavelength-locked laser diode.

6. The method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: In the preparation stage, the lower computer performs self-test and feeds back the self-test data to the upper computer, compares the self-test data with the parameters set by the upper computer, and determines the next thread that the lower computer enters. The next thread includes the main loop, fault handling and receiving information.

7. The method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser according to claim 6, characterized in that: When the solid-state laser is a resonant cavity type solid-state laser, a resonant cavity preloading mode is adopted in the standby stage.

8. The method for shortening the response time of a solid-state laser according to claim 6, characterized in that: When the solid-state laser is an amplifier-type solid-state laser, in the standby stage, an amplifier pre-loaded, main oscillator unloaded mode is adopted.

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