Composite batten amplification laser device

Abstract

The invention provides a composite batten amplification laser device, which relates to the technical field of solid laser, and comprises a pumping source, a pumping coupling laser device and a reflecting mirror, the pumping source is used for outputting pumping light, and the pumping coupling laser device is located on a propagation path of the pumping light and is used for receiving the pumping light, enabling the pumping light to enter the pumping coupling laser device and providing energy to enable the pumping coupling laser device to generate laser; and the reflectors are symmetrically distributed on two sides of the pumping coupling laser device according to a preset included angle and are used for reflecting the laser, so that the laser is propagated for multiple times in the pumping coupling laser device. According to the technical scheme provided by the invention, the pump light is injected into the laser gain medium from the upper large surface of the laser material in the pump coupling laser device, so that more pump power can be injected, and the coating process difficulty of the reflector is reduced, thereby being beneficial to improving the laser output power and reducing the cost.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application belongs to the field of solid-state laser technology, and in particular relates to a composite slab amplification laser device. Background Technology

[0002] In the field of modern laser technology applications, Innoslab structure lasers are widely used in slab laser amplification devices, especially for ultrashort pulse slab laser amplification.

[0003] Traditional Innoslab slab laser amplification devices employ a side-pumping scheme. However, this scheme is limited by the dimensions of the slab's side surface, resulting in low injectable pump power. Furthermore, because the Innoslab slab laser amplification device has two reflectors on its side for multiple laser incidents onto the slab, these reflectors must simultaneously achieve high transmittance of the pump light and high reflectivity of the laser, significantly increasing the difficulty of the reflector coating process. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a composite slab amplified laser device to solve the problems of low injectable pump power caused by the influence of the slab side dimensions, and the increased difficulty of mirror coating process due to the simultaneous achievement of high transmittance of pump light and high reflectivity of laser light.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, this application adopts the following technical solution: In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a composite slab amplified laser device, the device comprising: a pump source, a pump-coupled laser device, and a reflector; The pump source is used to output pump light, and the pump-coupled laser device is located in the propagation path of the pump light to receive the pump light, so that the pump light enters the pump-coupled laser device and provides energy to excite the pump-coupled laser device to generate laser light. The reflectors are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the pump-coupled laser device at a pre-set angle to reflect the laser, so that the laser propagates multiple times within the pump-coupled laser device.

[0006] Optionally, the pump-coupled laser device consists of a pump coupling device and a laser material, wherein the pump coupling device and the laser material are combined by bonding or sintering. The pump coupling device is used to reflect the pump light to guide the pump light to couple into the laser material, and the upper large surface is any plane of the laser material with the largest area. The laser material is excited by the energy provided by the pump light to generate the laser. The reflectors are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the laser material to reflect the laser light.

[0007] Optionally, the pump coupling device is a columnar body with a trapezoidal cross-section; The plane containing the long base of the trapezoid is the incident surface of the pump coupling device, and the pump light enters the pump coupling device through the incident surface of the pump coupling device. The plane containing any one of the waists of the trapezoid is the reflecting surface of the pump coupling device. When the pump light propagates within the pump coupling device, it is reflected by the reflecting surface of the pump coupling device to form the reflected light.

[0008] Optionally, the incident surface of the pump coupling device is provided with a pump light anti-reflection film; The reflective surface of the pump coupling device is provided with a pump light high-reflectivity film.

[0009] Optionally, the lower large surface of the laser material is provided with a pump light high reflectivity film, and the lower large surface of the laser material is a plane in the laser material that coincides with the edge of the pump-coupled laser device; The laser material has a laser antireflection coating on its side, and the side is the plane of the laser material that is closest to the reflector.

[0010] Optionally, the plane of the reflector used to reflect the laser is provided with a high-reflectivity laser coating.

[0011] Optionally, the device further includes a thermal management component, which includes a waveguide and a heat sink; The thermal management component is used to perform forced convection cooling and forced convection conduction cooling on the pump-coupled laser device, and the waveguide is used to provide cooling channels.

[0012] Optionally, the pump coupling device in the pump-coupled laser device is made of waveguide, glass, or transparent window ceramic.

[0013] Optionally, the pump source is a bar array, which can be a linear array, a stacked array, or a surface array.

[0014] Optionally, the laser material in the pump-coupled laser device is a laser gain material, and the activating ions of the laser material include at least one of neodymium, ytterbium, titanium, praseodymium, chromium, thulium, or holmium, and the matrix material of the laser material is glass, ceramic, or crystal.

[0015] This application provides a composite slab laser amplification device. The device comprises a pump source, a pump-coupled laser device, and a reflector. Based on the pump light output from the pump source, the pump-coupled laser device is positioned along the propagation path of the pump light and receives the pump light. This allows the pump light to activate ions within the pump-coupled laser device, generating laser light. Finally, reflectors are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the pump-coupled laser device at a pre-set angle to reflect the laser light, enabling the laser to propagate multiple times within the device and thus increasing the laser energy. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a composite slab amplifying laser device provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a pump-coupled laser device provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 3 A schematic diagram of another pump-coupled laser device provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of another composite slab amplification laser device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0017] The technical solutions of this application will be described in detail below with specific embodiments. The following specific embodiments can be combined with each other, and the same or similar concepts or processes may not be described again in some embodiments.

[0018] In the application of modern laser technology, Innoslab structure lasers are widely used in slab laser amplification devices, especially for ultrashort pulse slab laser amplification. Traditional Innoslab slab laser amplification devices employ a side-pumping scheme. Due to the limited side dimensions of the slab, the pump power that can be injected using this traditional side-pumping scheme is low. Furthermore, since Innoslab slab laser amplification devices often have two mirrors on the side to achieve multiple laser incidents on the slab, these mirrors in the side-pumping scheme need to simultaneously achieve high transmittance of the pump light and high reflectivity of the laser, which significantly increases the difficulty of the mirror coating process.

[0019] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a composite slab amplifying laser device provided in an embodiment of this application, as shown below. Figure 1 As shown, the device includes: a pump source 101, a pump-coupled laser device 102, and a reflector 103.

[0020] The pump source 101 is used to output pump light. Correspondingly, the pump-coupled laser device 102 can be located in the propagation path of the pump light, so as to receive the pump light, allowing the pump light to enter the pump-coupled laser device 102 and provide energy to excite the pump-coupled laser device 102 to generate laser light.

[0021] Correspondingly, the reflectors 103 can be symmetrically distributed on both sides of the pump-coupled laser device 102 at a pre-set angle to reflect the laser, so that the laser can propagate multiple times within the pump-coupled laser device 102, thereby reactivating the activating ions within the pump-coupled laser device 102 to increase the laser energy.

[0022] The pre-set included angle can be determined based on the multiplier, the laser incident angle, the size of the incident spot, and the size of the emitted spot. In this embodiment, the pre-set included angle between the reflectors 103 is not specifically limited.

[0023] Moreover, see Figure 2 , Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a pump-coupled laser device provided in an embodiment of this application. The pump-coupled laser device 102 can be composed of a pump coupling device 1021 and a laser material 1022.

[0024] The pump coupling device 1021 and the laser material 1022 can be combined by bonding or sintering, and this application embodiment does not specifically limit this.

[0025] Furthermore, the pump coupling device 1021 is used to reflect the pump light to guide the pump light to couple into the laser material 1022.

[0026] Accordingly, the laser material 1022 can be excited by the energy provided by the pump light to generate laser light. The reflector 103 can be symmetrically distributed on both sides of the laser material 1022 to reflect the laser light.

[0027] Specifically, the pump coupling device 1021 is located in the propagation path of the pump light, thereby reflecting the pump light and guiding it to couple into the laser material 1022. Correspondingly, the laser material 1022 can be located in the propagation path of the reflected pump light, allowing the reflected pump light to couple into the laser material 1022. The energy provided by the pump light activates the active ions within the laser material 1022 to generate laser light.

[0028] Furthermore, the reflectors 103 are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the laser material 1022 at a pre-set angle to reflect the laser, so that the laser propagates multiple times within the laser material 1022, thereby reactivating the activating ions within the laser material 1022 to increase the laser energy.

[0029] Additionally, see Figure 3 , Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of another pump-coupled laser device provided in an embodiment of this application. The pump-coupled device 1021 can be a columnar body with a trapezoidal cross-section.

[0030] The plane containing the long base of the trapezoid is the incident plane of the pump coupling device 1021, and the plane containing any one of the waists of the trapezoid is the reflecting plane of the pump coupling device 1021.

[0031] Correspondingly, after the pump source 101 outputs pump light, the pump light can enter the pump coupling device 1021 through the incident surface and propagate within the pump coupling device 1021. When the pump light encounters the reflecting surface of the pump coupling device 1021 inside the pump coupling device 1021, the reflecting surface of the pump coupling device 1021 can reflect the pump light. Afterwards, the reflected pump light can enter the laser material 1022 from the pump coupling device 1021.

[0032] For example, see Figure 3 If the cross-section of the pump coupling device 1021 is a right trapezoid, then the plane containing the long base of the trapezoid can be the incident surface of the pump coupling device 1021, and the plane containing the waist of the trapezoid that is not perpendicular to the base can be the reflecting surface of the pump coupling device 1021.

[0033] Furthermore, an anti-reflection coating for pump light can be provided on the incident surface of the pump coupling device 1021, and a high-reflection coating for pump light can be provided on the reflecting surface of the pump coupling device 1021, thereby increasing the amount of light entering the pump coupling device 1021. Compared with the side-pumping scheme used in the traditional Innoslab slab laser amplification device, the pump power that can be injected is low due to the limited side size of the slab. However, the pump coupling device 1021 of this application can increase the injected pump power.

[0034] Similarly, a pump light high reflectivity film can be provided on the lower surface of the laser material 1022, and a laser antireflection film can also be provided on the side surface of the laser material 1022.

[0035] Among them, the lower large surface of the laser material 1022 is the plane in the laser material 1022 that coincides with the edge of the pump-coupled laser device 102; the side surface of the laser material 1022 is the plane in the laser material 1022 that is closest to the reflector 103.

[0036] For example, such as Figure 3 As shown, the laser material 1022 can be an Nd:YAG crystal. The X-axis of the laser material can be the length direction, the Y-axis can be the thickness direction, and the Z-axis can be the width direction.

[0037] Correspondingly, the lower surface of the laser material 1022 can be a plane formed by the X-axis (length direction) and Z-axis (width direction) at the bottom of the pump-coupled laser device 102; the side surface of the laser material 1022 can be a plane formed by the Y-axis (thickness direction) and Z-axis (width direction) on the side surface of the pump-coupled laser device 102.

[0038] Among them, a pump light high reflectivity film is provided on the lower surface of the laser material 1022 to increase the reflectivity of the pump light, and a laser antireflection film is provided on the side surface of the laser material 1022 to increase the transmittance of the laser.

[0039] In addition, the plane of the reflector 103 used to reflect the laser may also be provided with a high-reflectivity coating for lasers.

[0040] Since the reflectors 103 are located on both sides of the laser material 1022 and are placed at a preset angle, the laser can be reflected multiple times by the reflectors 103 located on both sides of the laser material 1022, and thus can be reflected back into the laser material 1022 multiple times. In the ever-increasing optical path, energy is continuously absorbed to achieve gain accumulation. When the laser intensity reaches the threshold, it will break through part of the transmission limitation of the reflectors 103 and finally output a stable laser, which is output from one side of the reflectors 103.

[0041] Compared to traditional Innoslab slab laser amplification devices, which employ side pumping and allow for multiple laser incidents onto the slab using two side mirrors, the side-pumped scheme requires these mirrors to simultaneously achieve high transmittance of the pump light and high reflectivity of the laser, significantly increasing the complexity of the mirror coating process. However, this application utilizes a pump coupling device to inject the pump light from a large surface area of ​​the laser material, enabling the coating of a high-reflectivity film for the laser only on the mirror. This eliminates the need for an anti-reflection coating to increase pump light transmittance, effectively reducing the complexity of the coating process.

[0042] It should be noted that the pump coupling device 1021 can be made of waveguide, glass, or transparent window ceramic. Furthermore, the pump source 101 can be a bar array, which can be a linear array, a stacked array, or a planar array. Additionally, the laser material 1022 can be a laser gain material, such as a laser gain material based on crystal, ceramic, or glass. The activating ions of the laser material 1022 can include at least one of neodymium (Nd), ytterbium (Yb), titanium (Ti), praseodymium (Pr), chromium (Cr), thulium (Tm), or holmium (Ho). The matrix material of the laser material can be glass, ceramic, or crystal.

[0043] In an alternative embodiment, see Figure 4 , Figure 4This is a schematic diagram of another composite slab amplified laser device provided in an embodiment of this application. The trapezoidal coupled large-area pumped slab amplified laser device may further include a thermal management component 104. Moreover, the thermal management component 104 may include a waveguide and a heat sink.

[0044] The waveguide provides cooling channels, and the heat sink is located on the side of the laser material 1022 away from the pump coupling device 1021. Correspondingly, the thermal management component 105 can be used for forced convection cooling and forced convection conduction cooling of the laser material 1022, thereby achieving temperature reduction of the laser material 1022.

[0045] In summary, the composite slab amplification laser device provided in this application embodiment, by setting up a pump source, a pump-coupled laser device, and a reflector, based on the pump light output from the pump source, places the pump-coupled laser device in the propagation path of the pump light, and receives the pump light through the pump-coupled laser device, so that the pump light can activate the active ions within the pump-coupled laser device to generate laser light. Finally, the reflector is symmetrically distributed on both sides of the pump-coupled laser device at a pre-set angle to reflect the laser light, so that the laser light propagates multiple times within the pump-coupled laser device, thereby increasing the energy of the laser light.

[0046] Furthermore, by using a pump-coupled laser device to inject pump light from the upper surface of the laser material in the pump-coupled laser device into the laser gain medium, more pump power can be injected and the coating process of the reflector can be simplified.

[0047] In addition, injecting more pump power can reduce the difficulty of the coating process of the reflector, which is beneficial to improving the laser output power and reducing costs.

[0048] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the above-described division of functional units and modules is merely an example. In practical applications, the above functions can be assigned to different functional units and modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different functional units or modules to complete all or part of the functions described above. The functional units and modules in the embodiments can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be implemented in hardware or as a software functional unit. Furthermore, the specific names of the functional units and modules are only for easy differentiation and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of this application. The specific working process of the units and modules in the above system can be referred to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0049] In the above embodiments, the descriptions of each embodiment have different focuses. For parts that are not described in detail or recorded in a certain embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments.

[0050] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0051] In the embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus / devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus / device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For instance, the division of modules or units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0052] It should be understood that, when used in this application specification and the appended claims, the term "comprising" indicates the presence of the described features, integrals, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integrals, steps, operations, elements, components and / or a collection thereof.

[0053] It should also be understood that the term “and / or” as used in this application specification and the appended claims means any combination of one or more of the associated listed items and all possible combinations, and includes such combinations.

[0054] As used in this application specification and the appended claims, the term "if" may be interpreted, depending on the context, as "when," "once," "in response to determination," or "in response to detection." Similarly, the phrase "if determined" or "if detected [the described condition or event]" may be interpreted, depending on the context, as meaning "once determined," "in response to determination," "once detected [the described condition or event]," or "in response to detection [the described condition or event]."

[0055] Furthermore, in the description of this application and the appended claims, the terms "first," "second," "third," etc., are used only to distinguish descriptions and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0056] References to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" as described in this specification mean that one or more embodiments of this application include a specific feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment. Therefore, the phrases "in one embodiment," "in some embodiments," "in other embodiments," "in still other embodiments," etc., appearing in different parts of this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but rather mean "one or more, but not all, embodiments," unless otherwise specifically emphasized. The terms "comprising," "including," "having," and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to," unless otherwise specifically emphasized.

[0057] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of this application, and are not intended to limit them. Although this application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can still be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent substitutions can be made to some or all of the technical features therein. Such modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application.

Claims

1. A composite slab amplifying laser device, characterized in that, The device includes: a pump source, a pump-coupled laser device, and a mirror; The pump source is used to output pump light, and the pump-coupled laser device is located in the propagation path of the pump light to receive the pump light, so that the pump light enters the pump-coupled laser device and provides energy to excite the pump-coupled laser device to generate laser light. The reflectors are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the pump-coupled laser device at a pre-set angle to reflect the laser, so that the laser propagates multiple times within the pump-coupled laser device.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The pump-coupled laser device consists of a pump coupling device and a laser material, which are bonded or sintered together. The pump coupling device is used to reflect the pump light to guide the pump light to couple into the laser material, and the upper large surface is any plane of the laser material with the largest area. The laser material is excited by the energy provided by the pump light to generate the laser. The reflectors are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the laser material to reflect the laser light.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, The pump coupling device is a columnar body with a trapezoidal cross-section; The plane containing the long base of the trapezoid is the incident surface of the pump coupling device, and the pump light enters the pump coupling device through the incident surface of the pump coupling device. The plane containing any one of the waists of the trapezoid is the reflecting surface of the pump coupling device. When the pump light propagates within the pump coupling device, it is reflected by the reflecting surface of the pump coupling device to form the reflected light.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that, The incident surface of the pump coupling device is provided with a pump light anti-reflection film; The reflective surface of the pump coupling device is provided with a pump light high-reflectivity film.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, The lower large surface of the laser material is provided with a pump light high reflectivity film, and the lower large surface of the laser material is a plane in the laser material that coincides with the edge of the pump-coupled laser device; The laser material has a laser antireflection coating on its side, and the side is the plane of the laser material that is closest to the reflector.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The reflector has a high-reflectivity coating on its surface for reflecting the laser.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The device further includes a thermal management component, which includes a waveguide and a heat sink; The thermal management component is used to perform forced convection cooling and forced convection conduction cooling on the pump-coupled laser device, and the waveguide is used to provide cooling channels.

8. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The pump coupling device in the pump-coupled laser device is made of waveguide, glass, or transparent window ceramic.

9. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The pump source is a bar array, which can be a linear array, a stacked array, or a surface array.

10. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The laser material in the pump-coupled laser device is a laser gain material, and the activating ions of the laser material include at least one of neodymium, ytterbium, titanium, praseodymium, chromium, thulium, or holmium. The matrix material of the laser material is glass, ceramic, or crystal.

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