Laser Amplifier Head With Laminar Cooling for Optical Quality
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
High-power solid-state lasers face challenges in maintaining optical quality and preventing degradation due to excessive temperature, which is exacerbated by turbulent cooling liquid flows and inadequate heat management in existing designs.
Innovation Solution
A laser amplifier head featuring a stack of thin plates rotating around a common axis, immersed in a liquid flow, with transparent cooling liquid guide plates and an optically absorbing and diffusing structure to ensure laminar flow and effective removal of stimulated radiation, thereby reducing thermal effects and maintaining optical quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a stack of thin plates is used as active medium, then the cooling efficiency is improved, but the optical quality degrades due to turbulent liquid flow
Solution Approach 1:
The active medium is segmented into a stack of thin plates (typically 12 or more plates, each with thickness less than one tenth of lateral dimensions), allowing improved cooling efficiency while maintaining optical quality through the laminar flow design between individual plates
Solution Approach 2:
Cooling liquid guide plates are introduced as intermediary elements between the active medium plates and the cooling liquid inlet. These guide plates ensure laminar flow of the cooling liquid, preventing turbulence that would otherwise degrade optical quality while maintaining efficient heat removal
2Temperature
If the active medium thickness is reduced for rear surface cooling, then the cooling effectiveness is improved, but the number of passageways increases
Solution Approach 1:
The active medium is divided into multiple thin plates with spacing between them, creating natural cooling channels without requiring complex internal passageways. This segmentation allows effective cooling through the spacing between plates while avoiding the complexity of internal cooling structures
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling function is extracted from the active medium itself and implemented through the spacing between separate plates, eliminating the need for internal cooling passageways within each plate while maintaining effective heat removal
3Quantity of substance
If large dimensional active medium is used, then the heat storage volume increases, but the optical quality degrades due to excessive temperature
Solution Approach 1:
The active medium is segmented into a stack of thin plates with controlled spacing, providing sufficient total volume for heat storage while maintaining thin individual plate dimensions that enable effective cooling and prevent excessive temperature rise
Solution Approach 2:
The solution transitions from a single large-volume active medium to a multi-dimensional stack of thin plates with spacing, utilizing the spacing dimension to enable cooling while maintaining sufficient total active medium volume for heat storage
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design allows for higher power operation without degrading the laser beam's optical quality, achieving efficient heat management and minimizing mechanical stress on the active medium, ensuring stable operation and reduced risk of fracture.
Implementation Method 1
the cooling liquid tends to become turbulent, thereby substantially degrading the quality of the laser beam
Implementation Method 2
The heat is then stored in a greater volume and is exchanged over a larger surface, thereby substantially reducing the technical effects
Implementation Method 3
The invention solves this problem by using cooling liquid guide plates arranged in the extension of the laser active medium plates, thus ensuring a laminar flow where the laser beam passes
Implementation Method 4
Another aspect of the invention consists in an effective removal of the stimulated amplification radiation, made possible through the use of transparent cooling liquid guide plates, preferably associated with mirrors which deflect the radiation toward an absorbing and diffusing region
Data Source
AI summary
A laser amplifier head is provided. The laser amplifier head includes a plurality of plates of a solid-state laser active medium disposed in a housing, arranged parallel to one another with their main surfaces facing one another, the housing being provided with an inlet port and an outlet port for a cooling liquid, and also at least one window allowing a laser beam to pass through the laser active medium plates, wherein it also includes:a mechanical connection device allowing a cyclic movement at least of the laser active medium plates in relation to the laser beam in a plane (xy) perpendicular to the direction (z) of their thickness; andcooling liquid guide plates arranged in the extension of the laser active medium plates, between the latter and the inlet port of said liquid.