Gigaphoton Inc.

Power Photonic Ltd.

Krzysztof Nowak

Osamu Wakabayashi

Takashi Suganuma

Masato Moriya

Akira Endo

Hideo Hoshino

Tatsuya Ariga

Yasufumi Kawasuji

Takashi Saito

Roy McBride

Howard John Baker

Jozef Jacek Wendland

Roy Mcbride

Jozef Wendland

There is provided a slab amplifier including an optical system () provided in a chamber () to allow a seed beam having entered from a first window into the space between a pair of electrodes () to be repeatedly reflected between the space so that the seed beam is amplified to be an amplified beam; a first aperture plate () provided between the first window and the electrodes, and having an opening of a dimension equal to or greater than a cross-section of the seed beam and equal to or smaller than a dimension of the first window; and a second aperture plate () provided between the second window and the electrodes, and having an opening of a dimension equal to or greater than a cross-section of the amplified beam and equal to or smaller than a dimension of the second window.

Slab amplifier, and laser apparatus and extreme ultraviolet light generation apparatus including slab amplifier

A laser apparatus may include: a master oscillator configured to output a pulsed laser beam at a repetition rate, the master oscillator including at least one semiconductor laser apparatus; at least one amplifier configured to amplify the pulsed laser beam from the master oscillator, the at least one amplifier being configured to include at least one gain bandwidth; and a controller for controlling a parameter affecting an output wavelength of the pulsed laser beam from the master oscillator such that a wavelength chirping range of the pulsed laser beam from the master oscillator overlaps at least a part of the at least one gain bandwidth.

Laser apparatus, extreme ultraviolet light generation system, method for controlling the laser apparatus, and method for generating the extreme ultraviolet light

An amplifier may include a plurality of discharge tubes arranged in a designed path of a seed laser beam and an optical system arranged to steer the seed laser beam to travel along the designed path.

Amplifier, laser apparatus, and extreme ultraviolet light generation system

A laser apparatus may include: a master oscillator configured to output a pulsed laser beam at a repetition rate; at least one amplifier disposed on a beam path of the pulsed laser beam; at least one optical shutter disposed on the beam path of the pulsed laser beam; and a controller configured to switch the at least one optical shutter.

Laser beam output control with optical shutter

A regenerative amplifier according to one aspect of this disclosure is used in combination with a laser device, and the regenerative amplifier may include: a pair of resonator mirrors constituting an optical resonator; a slab amplifier provided between the pair of the resonator mirrors for amplifying a laser beam with a predetermined wavelength outputted from the laser device; and an optical system disposed to configure a multipass optical path along which the laser beam is reciprocated inside the slab amplifier, the optical system transferring an optical image of the laser beam at a first position as an optical image of the laser beam at a second position.

Regenerative amplifier, laser apparatus, and extreme ultraviolet light generation system

A laser beam amplifier with high optical axis stability is provided. The laser beam amplifier includes: a container for accommodating a laser medium; a pair of electrodes for performing discharge in the laser medium to form an amplification region for a laser beam in the laser medium; and an optical system for forming an optical path between a first point, upon which the laser beam is incident, and a second point, from which the laser beam is outputted, such that the amplification region is located in the optical path between the first point and the second point, wherein the first point and the second point are conjugate to each other, and the laser beam incident upon the first point is amplified while passing through the amplification region at least twice and then transferred to the second point.

Laser beam amplifier and laser apparatus using the same

A method and apparatus of generating a laser pulse of a desired energy and micro-machining a substrate using the laser pulse. A beam of light is provided from a laser source. The beam is directed via a modulator to produce an output laser pulse with a portion of the laser pulse being used to determine the energy of the laser pulse. The modulator is controlled so as to switch off the output laser pulse when the determined energy of the output laser pulse reaches a threshold value. The output laser pulse is steered to a substrate for micro-machining.

Laser pulse generation method and apparatus

An EUV light generation system includes a driver laser comprising a master oscillator such as a semiconductor laser, a spatial filter, gas slab amplification devices, relay optical systems, and high-speed axial-flow amplifiers. The slab amplification devices include beam adjusting optical units disposed, respectively, at input and output sides of the slab amplifiers SA to convert the beam profile and/or polarization direction and/or an elongated direction of the beam profile with the slab amplifiers is parallel to a free space axis AF of the slab waveguides, i.e. parallel to the discharge electrodes.

Slab amplification device, laser apparatus, and extreme ultraviolet light generation system

An extreme ultraviolet light source apparatus comprises a laser apparatus having a master oscillator outputting one or more longitudinal-mode-laser lights, an amplifier with a molecular gas as an amplifying agency amplifying a longitudinal-mode laser light of which wavelength is included in one of amplifiable lines, and a controller adjusting the master oscillator so that the wavelength of the longitudinal-mode laser light outputted from the master oscillator is included in one of the amplifiable lines, the laser apparatus being used as a driver laser, wherein the laser apparatus irradiates a target material with a laser light for generating plasma, and the extreme ultraviolet light is emitted from the plasma and outputted from the extreme ultraviolet light source apparatus.

Laser apparatus and extreme ultraviolet light source apparatus

An EUV light source of the present invention is capable of using a saturable absorber stably and continuously in a high heat load state. A saturable absorber (SA) device is disposed on a laser beam line to absorb feeble light, such as self-excited oscillation light, parasitic oscillation light or return light. SA gas from an SA gas cylinder and buffer gas from a buffer gas cylinder are mixed to be a mixed gas. The mixed gas is supplied to an SA gas cell via a supply pipeline, and absorbs the feeble light included in the laser beam. The mixed gas is exhausted via an exhaust pipeline, and is sent to a heat exchanger. The mixed gas, cooled down by a heat exchanger, is sent back to the SA gas cell by a circulation pump.

Extreme ultraviolet light source device, laser light source device for extreme ultraviolet light source device, and method for controlling saturable absorber used in extreme ultraviolet light source device

Extreme ultraviolet light source device, laser light source device for extreme ultraviolet light source device and method for controlling saturable absorber used in extreme ultraviolet light source device

A slab type laser apparatus has a slab type gas laser medium part formed in a region defined by a pair of electrode flat plates oppositely disposed in parallel with each other in a space to be filled with a gas laser medium which is excited by high-frequency electric power. The apparatus includes an oscillator part including a pair of resonator mirrors oppositely disposed with a part of the gas laser medium part in between, and for amplifying a laser beam to have predetermined light intensity to emit the laser beam, and the amplifier part including a plurality of return mirrors oppositely disposed with a part of the gas laser medium part in between. The incident laser beam goes and returns plural times between the return mirrors, and the laser beam is amplified to have predetermined power.

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Oyama, Japan

Krzysztof Nowak