53 results about "Pulse stretcher" patented technology

Provided is a time-stretch spectroscopy device capable of restoring an original spectrum without using a high-speed modulation system or reception system even if temporally adjacent pulses overlap after stretching. This time-stretch spectroscopy device comprises: an optical modulator that performs intensity modulation in pulse units on a group of measurement light pulses, which are obtained by irradiating a measurement object having characteristics relating to light transmittance or reflectance with a group of light pulses; a pulse stretcher that performs time stretching on the group of measurement light pulses; and a signal processing device that, with the assumption that the measurement light pulses are sparse as data, performs a reconfiguration estimating pulse signal wavelength components corresponding to the stretched light pulses, which are obtained by individually time stretching the group of measurement light pulses, in light of a superimposition signal synthesized such that a temporal overlap occurs after the time stretching.

The invention relates to a laser light source, in particular for use in a microlithographic projection exposure system, comprising a laser module (105, 305) for generating a plurality of light pulses and an optical pulse stretcher (110, 310) for stretching a pulse length of the light pulses generated by the laser module (105, 305), wherein the optical pulse stretcher (110, 310) has a plurality of mirrors (111, 112, 113, 114, 200, 311, 312, 313, 314), each having a mirror substrate (210) and a reflection layer system (220), and wherein the mirror substrate (210) supports at least one of these mirrors (111, 112, 113, 114, 200, 311, 312, 313, 314) is made of silicon (Si).

Provided is a pulse width expansion device for expanding the pulse width of a pulsed laser beam, the pulse width expansion device including a first optical pulse stretcher, a second optical pulse stretcher, a third optical pulse stretcher, and a fourth optical pulse stretcher disposed on the optical path of the pulsed laser beam, the first optical pulse stretcher, the second optical pulse stretcher, the third optical pulse stretcher, and the fourth optical pulse stretcher being disposed on the optical path of the pulsed laser beam. The optical path length of the delay optical path of the first optical pulse stretcher is L1, the optical path length of the delay optical path of the second optical pulse stretcher is L2, the optical path length of the delay optical path of the third optical pulse stretcher is L3, and the optical path length of the delay optical path of the fourth optical pulse stretcher is L4. When n is an integer of 2 or more, L2 is an integer multiple of 2 or more of L1, L3 satisfies (n-0. 75) * L1 < = L3 < = (n-0.25) * L1, and L4 satisfies (n-0.25) * L1 < = L4 < = (n + 0.25) * L1.

A pulse modification apparatus includes at least one pulse stretcher for dispersive stretching of laser pulses and / or at least one pulse compressor for dispersive compression of the laser pulses, an actuator for setting a dispersion of the at least one pulse stretcher or a dispersion of the at least one pulse compressor by setting at least one manipulated variable, a controller for controlling the actuator based on a measurement signal, and an ambient sensor for detecting at least one ambient parameter as the measurement signal. The dispersion of the at least one pulse stretcher or the dispersion of the at least one pulse compressor is dependent on the at least one ambient parameter.

A laser device includes an oscillator outputting pulse laser light; an amplifier amplifying the pulse laser light; an optical pulse stretcher extending a pulse width of the pulse laser light; a beam divergence angle adjuster including an upstream lens arranged on an optical path of the pulse laser light, a downstream lens arranged downstream of the upstream lens, and an optical path length changing mechanism for changing an inter-lens optical path length between the upstream lens and the downstream lens; and a processor controlling the beam divergence angle adjuster and obtaining a repetition frequency or a duty of the pulse laser light, and to change, when the repetition frequency or the duty changes by a preset threshold or more, the inter-lens optical path length so that the beam divergence angle of the extended pulse laser light becomes small in accordance with the repetition frequency or the duty after the change.

The laser annealing system includes: a laser system; and a laser annealing device, which irradiates a first pulse laser and a second pulse laser to an irradiated object, the laser annealing device includes: an irradiation optical system, which guides the first pulse laser and the second pulse laser to the irradiated object; a moving mechanism, which causes the irradiation positions of the first pulse laser and the second pulse laser to move relative to the irradiation position of the irradiated object; and a control unit, which controls the laser system so that the irradiated object is irradiated with the first pulse laser, and after the irradiation with the first pulse laser, the area of ​​the irradiated object irradiated with the first pulse laser is irradiated with the second pulse laser, the laser system includes: a laser oscillator, which outputs a pulse laser; an optical pulse stretcher, which stretches the pulse laser output from the laser oscillator; and a gate, which is arranged on a delay optical path of the optical pulse stretcher, and the control unit controls the output of the first pulse laser and the second pulse laser by controlling the opening and closing of the gate.

The present invention is applicable to the field of pulsed laser technology and provides a pulsed laser modulation system. The system includes: a laser seed source for emitting a laser signal; a polarization-maintaining circulator having an incident end, a first emission end, and a second emission end, with the laser seed source and the incident end of the polarization-maintaining circulator being located on the same optical path; a fiber preamplifier and a laser pulse stretcher, with the first emission end, the fiber preamplifier, and the laser pulse stretcher being sequentially arranged on the same optical path; and an acousto-optic modulator and a fiber amplifier, with the second emission end, the acousto-optic modulator, and the fiber amplifier being sequentially arranged on the same optical path. The present invention proposes a design scheme for a pulsed laser modulation device that integrates stretching, preamplification, and frequency selection. By using this scheme, a low-repetition-rate pulsed laser output with a compact structure, good stability, and a high signal-to-noise ratio can be achieved.

This laser device is provided with: a laser oscillator which includes an optical resonator and a pair of electrodes for generating discharge by applying a voltage to a laser gas, and which outputs a first pulsed laser light; a first optical pulse stretcher that transmits a portion of the first pulse laser light, surrounds the other portion of the first pulse laser light by one circle, and outputs a first transmitted light and a first one-circle surrounding light, which have a first shift amount and spatially overlap a portion of the first transmitted light and the first one-circle surrounding light, thereby outputting a second pulse laser light in which the pulse time width of the first pulse laser light has been expanded; and a second optical pulse stretcher that transmits a part of the second pulse laser light, surrounds the other part of the second pulse laser light by one circle, and outputs second transmitted light and second one-circle surrounding light that have a second offset amount different from the first offset amount and spatially overlap a part of the second transmitted light and a part of the second one-circle surrounding light. As a result, a third pulse laser beam having an extended pulse time width of the second pulse laser beam is output.

A light source apparatus 200 generates emitted light L1 to be radiated onto a sample. A pulsed light source 210 generates near-infrared wideband pulsed light L0. A pulse stretcher 220 stretches the wideband pulsed light L0 in the time axis direction to generate near-infrared wavelength swept light L1a, which is a pulse train including a plurality of pulses having different central wavelengths. A wavelength converting device 250 converts the wavelength of the near-infrared wavelength swept light L1a emitted from the pulse stretcher 220 to generate the emitted light L1.

Apparatus for and method of aligning optical components such as beam splitters in an optical pulse stretcher in which a landing spot of a beam which has traversed a portion of the optical beam splitter and a coincident landing spot of a beam split from a retroreflected input beam are made to align on a target spot. Also disclosed is an apparatus and method for aligning the retroreflector to facilitate proper beam alignment. A fluorescent material may be used to render a beam landing spot visible.

The invention provides a femtosecond laser pulse compression system with a compact structure and an adjustable pulse width, and relates to the technical field of femtosecond lasers, the system sequentially comprises a seed source, a pulse stretcher, an amplification chain and a pulse compression device along a light path, the pulse compression device comprises a polarization beam splitting unit, an electro-optical polarization modulation unit, a single compression grating and a light path turn-back unit; wherein the polarization beam splitting unit, the electro-optical polarization modulation unit, the single compression grating and the light path turn-back unit jointly form a multi-channel folding compression light path; a voltage signal with a specific time sequence is applied to the electro-optical polarization modulation unit, and the polarization state of a light beam is dynamically switched, so that the light beam is selectively controlled to complete back-and-forth transmission of a preset number of times in a multi-channel folding compression light path in different polarization states, and the compression ratio of laser pulses and the width of output pulses are continuously adjusted. On the premise that large-spread-width matching is guaranteed, the system is extremely compact, and the pulse width is continuously and flexibly adjusted in an electric control mode.

A laser device is provided with: an oscillator that emits pulsed seed light; a first amplifier that amplifies the seed light and emits first amplified light; a first beam splitter that splits the first amplified light into first split light and second split light having smaller energy than the first split light; a first delay optical system that delays the second split light; a second amplifier that amplifies the delayed second split light and emits second amplified light; a beam combiner that emits coupled light obtained by coupling the first split light and the second amplified light; and a pulse expander that expands the pulse width of the coupled light.

A pulse stretcher includes a beam splitter splitting pulse laser light into two beams of pulse laser light, first concave mirrors arranged side by side in a predetermined direction, and second concave mirrors arranged side by side in the predetermined direction as having the same number as the first concave mirrors and facing the first concave mirrors, respectively. One beam of pulse laser light split by the beam splitter travels to one first concave mirror among the first concave mirrors and is reflected alternately by the first concave mirrors and the second concave mirrors 12 times or more as even number times to return to the beam splitter. A number of overlapping of the one beam at each of concentration points where at least part of the one beam of pulse laser light overlaps at beam waists of the one beam is two.

An optical pulse stretcher for stretching the pulse width of pulsed laser light, the optical pulse stretcher comprising: a polarizer that separates a component of incident pulsed laser light that has a specific polarization direction; delay optics including a plurality of mirrors for propagating the pulsed laser light that has been reflected by or transmitted through the polarizer; and a first Faraday rotator that includes a first magnet and a first Faraday material, is disposed on the optical path of the delay optics, and rotates the polarization direction of the pulsed laser light.

A laser apparatus includes an oscillator configured to output a pulse laser beam, a random phase plate disposed in an optical path of the pulse laser beam, and an optical pulse stretcher disposed in the optical path of the pulse laser beam that has passed through the random phase plate and configured to stretch a pulse time width of the pulse laser beam by transmitting part of the pulse laser beam, making the other part circulate at least once through a delay optical path, and outputting transmitted light and circulating light.

A mid-infrared laser generation system based on dispersion-managed soliton bunch pulses. The system can achieve high-power, high-efficiency and high-proportion mid-infrared laser output, and has the advantages of an all-fiber configuration, a compact structure and a high power proportion in a longer-wavelength region of a mid-infrared spectrum. A pulsed fiber laser device generates a nanosecond pulse laser in a 1.5-micron band. A fiber pulse stretcher is made of a single-mode silica fiber, splits nanosecond pulses into a plurality of ultrafast soliton pulses by means of a nonlinear effect, and performs spectral energy conversion from 1.5 microns to 2.4 microns. A fiber laser amplifier further increases the output power of a stretched pulse laser and extends a spectrum to a 2.7-micron band, and also increases pulse energy beyond a 2.3-micron band. A fiber mode field adapter efficiently couples into a nonlinear fiber pulses generated in the fiber laser amplifier. The nonlinear fiber extends a laser to a mid-infrared 3-5-micron band, thereby achieving high-power, high-efficiency and high-proportion mid-infrared laser output.

The present invention relates to the field of solid ultrafast lasers, and particularly to a regenerative amplifier and method for increasing the output power by intracavity excitation of high-order modes, including a ytterbium-doped fiber oscillator, a pulse stretcher, a crystal regenerative amplifier module, and a pulse compressor arranged in the optical path sequence; the ytterbium-doped fiber oscillator is used to generate initial laser pulses; the pulse stretcher is used to broaden the initial laser pulses; the crystal regenerative amplifier is used to amplify the laser pulses; the pulse compressor is used to compress the amplified laser pulses; by rotating the pump-end mirror, the pump light is obliquely incident into the crystal, so that an angle is formed between the pump light and the seed light, thereby exciting high-order modes to increase the output power and output fundamental mode spot.

The invention belongs to the field of laser emission devices, and provides a system and a method for adjusting and compensating high-order dispersion through broadening-compression coordination, and the method comprises the steps: calculating second-order dispersion and third-order dispersion introduced by a pulse amplifier; the introduced third-order dispersion is adjusted by changing the grating incidence angle in the pulse stretcher, so that the introduced third-order dispersion is counteracted with the total third-order dispersion of the system; according to the second-order dispersion change generated after the angle of the pulse stretcher is adjusted, a second-order dispersion value required to be provided by the pulse compressor is calculated, and the effective distance of the grating pair is adjusted for accurate compensation; and the angle of the pulse stretcher is corrected again according to the third-order dispersion feedback adjusted by the pulse compressor, and the steps are repeated until the total second-order dispersion and the third-order dispersion of the system approach to zero, so that near-transformation limit compression is realized. By adjusting the grating incident angle of the stretcher and the grating effective distance of the compressor, synchronous compensation of second-order and third-order dispersion in the ultrafast laser system is realized, and pulse output close to the transformation limit is obtained.

The application belongs to the field of laser emitting devices, and provides a system and method for compensating high-order dispersion through cooperative adjustment of stretching and compression, calculating second-order dispersion and third-order dispersion introduced by a pulse amplifier; adjusting the introduced third-order dispersion by changing the grating incident angle in a pulse stretcher, so that the third-order dispersion is offset with the total third-order dispersion of the system; calculating the second-order dispersion value required to be provided by the pulse compressor according to the second-order dispersion change generated after the angle adjustment of the pulse stretcher, and accurately compensating by adjusting the effective distance of the grating pair; feeding back the third-order dispersion of the pulse compressor after adjustment to correct the angle of the pulse stretcher again, and repeating the above steps until the total second-order dispersion and third-order dispersion of the system tend to be zero, so as to realize near transform limit compression. The application adjusts the grating incident angle of the stretcher and the effective distance of the grating of the compressor, so that the second-order dispersion and third-order dispersion in the ultrafast laser system are simultaneously compensated, and near transform limit pulse output is obtained.

A laser device includes a pair of electrodes configured to cause discharge to occur, and an optical pulse stretcher configured to extend a pulse width of pulse laser light generated by the discharge having occurred between the electrodes. Here, the optical pulse stretcher includes a beam splitter arranged such that an optical surface thereof on which the pulse laser light is incident is inclined with respect to an optical path axis of the pulse laser light, and configured to separate the pulse laser light incident on the optical surface into reflection laser light and transmission laser light; a plurality of mirrors configured to guide the reflection laser light to the beam splitter; and a slide mechanism configured to move the beam splitter in a direction perpendicular to a direction of the discharge and parallel to the optical surface.

A deterioration estimation method of an optical pulse stretcher configured to extend a pulse width of pulse laser light includes acquiring a first temporal waveform, at a first measurement timing, of the pulse laser light having the pulse width extended by the optical pulse stretcher; acquiring a second temporal waveform, at a second measurement timing after the first measurement timing, of the pulse laser light having the pulse width extended by the optical pulse stretcher; and estimating a degree of deterioration of the optical pulse stretcher based on the first temporal waveform and the second temporal waveform.

A deterioration estimation method for an optical pulse stretcher that expands the pulse width of a pulsed laser light, the method comprising: acquiring a first time waveform at a first measurement time of the pulsed laser light in which the pulse width is expanded by the optical pulse stretcher; a second time waveform at a second measurement time after the first measurement time of the pulse laser light having the pulse width expanded by the optical pulse stretcher is acquired, and the degree of degradation of the optical pulse stretcher is estimated on the basis of the first time waveform and the second time waveform.

The present application provides a laser device and a manufacturing method of an electronic device, the laser device according to one aspect includes: a discharge excitation type laser oscillator which outputs pulsed laser in an ultraviolet wavelength region; a first optical pulse stretcher which includes a beam splitter and a plurality of concave mirrors, and which expands a pulse width of the pulsed laser; and a relay lens which includes a first lens and a second lens arranged on an optical path of the pulsed laser after the pulse width is expanded, the first lens being a spherical plano-convex lens, and the second lens having a focal length in a long side direction of a beam cross section of the pulsed laser which is shorter than a focal length in a short side direction.

The present invention discloses a reflective giant-dispersion chirped plane grating pulse stretcher based on an asymmetric Treacy compressor configuration, wherein a first grating and a second grating are placed parallel to each other, and a third grating and a fourth grating are placed parallel to each other. The first and fourth gratings are gratings with a constant grating period, while the second and third gratings are chirped plane gratings with a variable grating period. Compared to a Martinez stretcher or an Offner stretcher, under conditions of equal grating spacing, the reflective giant-dispersion chirped plane grating pulse stretcher can provide a greater amount of positive dispersion to achieve more significant pulse width stretching for the incident light. Adjusting the grating period range of the second and third gratings, the effective area width and position of the third grating, and the position of the fourth grating can achieve adjustment of the output dispersion of the reflective giant-dispersion chirped plane grating pulse stretcher. The structure and related principles proposed in the present invention are simple, and the technical solution provided can effectively support the pulse stretcher to generate massive dispersion, thereby achieving significant broadening of the incident light pulse width.

The present disclosure relates to a laser system comprising: a mode-locked oscillator or laser configured for generating seed laser pulses; a nonlinear crystal configured for frequency doubling the seed laser pulses from the oscillator, whereby modified laser pulses are obtained; a pulse stretcher, such as a chirped fiber-Bragg grating (CFBG), configured for temporally stretching the modified laser pulses, whereby stretched laser pulses are obtained; a regenerative amplifier configured for amplifying the stretched laser pulses, whereby amplified laser pulses are obtained, wherein the regenerative amplifier comprises a gain crystal selected from the group of chromium-doped Colquiriite crystals (Cr:Colquiriites) and Alexandrite crystals; and a compressor for temporally compressing the amplified laser pulses, whereby compressed pulses are obtained.

This invention relates to a laser welding method based on variable pulse width dual pulses and a multi-scale observation system, belonging to the field of femtosecond laser welding application technology. The invention splits a femtosecond laser pulse into two femtosecond laser pulses. One of these pulses is spread into a picosecond-nanosecond pulse with adjustable pulse width using a pulse stretcher. The delay between the two pulses can be controlled using a delay translation stage. This allows the interface to be welded to first be irradiated by the picosecond-nanosecond laser pulse to generate a suitable thermal effect, followed by irradiation by the femtosecond laser pulse to form a "cold weld." By controlling the thermal phase transition process, welding efficiency and performance are improved. Combined with a multi-scale observation system, the welding process can be observed in real time from the femtosecond to the second scale. This invention has the advantages of high efficiency and simplicity, enabling high-quality, high-strength, and high-efficiency welding of difficult-to-machine dissimilar materials.

A laser apparatus according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a laser oscillator configured to emit a pulse laser beam, and a first optical pulse stretcher, a second optical pulse stretcher, and a third optical pulse stretcher that are disposed on an optical path of the pulse laser beam. When L1 represents an optical path length of a delay optical path of the first optical pulse stretcher, L2 represents an optical path length of a delay optical path of the second optical pulse stretcher, L3 represents an optical path length of a delay optical path of the third optical pulse stretcher, and n represents an integer equal to or larger than two, L2 is an integral multiple of L1 by an integer equal to or larger than two and L3 satisfies the following condition: (n−0.75)×L1≤L3≤(n−0.25)×L1.

A gas laser device includes a chamber device; and a pulse stretcher which includes a looped optical path including a beam splitter and a plurality of mirrors, and a light guide optical system, and which the pulse laser light output from the chamber device enters. The light guide system causes the pulse laser light having entered the pulse stretcher to be output from the pulse stretcher via the beam splitter. The looped optical path returns a part of the pulse laser light having entered the beam splitter to the beam splitter via the plurality of mirrors to cause the part of the pulse laser light to overlap another part thereof, and is sandwiched between a first straight line along an optical path of the pulse laser light entering the pulse stretcher and a second straight line along an optical path of the pulse laser light output from the pulse stretcher.

To provide a gas laser device capable of suppressing a decrease in the amount of laser light.SOLUTION: A gas laser device includes a chamber device including a pair of electrodes in an internal space filled with laser gas and emitting pulsed laser light, and a pulse stretcher including a loop optical path consisting of a beam splitter and multiple mirrors, and a light-guiding optical system including multiple light-guiding mirrors. The light-guiding optical system is configured such that the pulsed laser light incident on the pulse stretcher is output from the pulse stretcher via the beam splitter. The loop optical path is configured such that a portion of the pulsed laser light incident on the beam splitter is returned to the beam splitter via the multiple mirrors to be superimposed on another portion of the pulsed laser light incident on the beam splitter, and is disposed so as to be sandwiched between a first straight line along an input optical path which is the optical path of the pulsed laser light incident on the pulse stretcher, and a second straight line along an output optical path which is the optical path of the pulsed laser light output from the pulse stretcher.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

An optical system is in a pulse stretcher of a deep ultraviolet light source. The optical system includes: an optical element configured, in operation, along a path of a light beam produced by the deep ultraviolet light source; and an adjustable mounting apparatus to which the optical element is located. The adjustable mounting apparatus includes: a passive alignment mount, and a drive mechanism coupled to the passive alignment mount, the drive mechanism including a wedge that is rotationally constrained.