The United States of America As Represented by the United States

United States of America As Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force

Richard P Hackel

Mark Feldman

Robert D Paris

Jeffrey A Paisner

Isaac Louis Bass

Clare C Leiby, Jr

Gaylen V Erbert

Shaoul Ezekiel

Richard H Picard

Vernon K Kanz

Sherman L Jenkins

Charles R Willis

A method for monitoring the power of a laser beam in real time is disclosed. At least one optical fiber is placed through the laser beam, where a portion of light from the laser beam is coupled into the optical fiber. The optical fiber may be maintained in a stationary position or moved periodically over a cross section of the laser beam to couple light from each area traversed. Light reaching both fiber ends is monitored according to frequency and processed to determine the power of the laser beam.

Method and apparatus for monitoring the power of a laser beam

A high-power continuous-wave laser resonator (10) is provided, wherein first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth mirrors (11-16) form a double-Z optical cavity. A first Ti:Sapphire rod (17) is disposed between the second and third mirrors (12,13) and at the mid-point of the length of the optical cavity, and a second Ti:Sapphire rod (18) is disposed between the fourth and fifth mirrors (14,15) at a quarter-length point in the optical cavity. Each Ti:Sapphire rod (17,18) is pumped by two counter-propagating pump beams from a pair of argon-ion lasers (21-22, 23-24). For narrow band operation, a 3-plate birefringent filter (36) and an etalon (37) are disposed in the optical cavity so that the spectral output of the laser consists of 5 adjacent cavity modes. For increased power, seventy and eighth mirrors (101, 192) are disposed between the first and second mirrors (11, 12) to form a triple-Z optical cavity. A third Ti:Sapphire rod (103) is disposed between the seventh and eighth mirrors (101, 102) at the other quarter-length point in the optical cavity, and is pumped by two counter-propagating pump beams from a third pair of argon-ion lasers (104, 105).

High power continuous-wave titanium:sapphire laser

A wavelength meter having a single mode fiber optics input is disclosed. The single mode fiber enables a plurality of laser beams to be multiplexed to form a multiplexed input to the wavelength meter. The wavelength meter can provide a determination of the wavelength of any one or all of the plurality of laser beams by suitable processing. Another aspect of the present invention is that one of the laser beams could be a known reference laser having a predetermined wavelength. Hence, the improved wavelength meter can provide an on-line calibration capability with the reference laser input as one of the plurality of laser beams.

Wavelength meter having single mode fiber optics multiplexed inputs

A wavelength meter is disclosed which can determine the wavelength of a laser beam from a laser source within an accuracy range of two parts in 10.sup.8. The wavelength meter has wedge having an elliptically shaped face to the optical path of the laser source and includes interferometer plates which form a vacuum housing.

Wavelength meter having elliptical wedge

A single mode pulsed dye laser oscillator is disclosed. The dye laser oscillator provides for improved power efficiency by reducing the physical dimensions of the overall laser cavity, which improves frequency selection capability.

Single mode pulsed dye laser oscillator

A laser amplifier chain has a plurality of laser amplifiers arranged in a chain to sequentially amplify a low-power signal beam to produce a significantly higher-power output beam. Overall efficiency of such a chain is improved if high-gain, low efficiency amplifiers are placed on the upstream side of the chain where only a very small fraction of the total pumped power is received by the chain and low-gain, high-efficiency amplifiers are placed on the downstream side where a majority of pumping energy is received by the chain.

Laser amplifier chain

A dye laser master oscillator is disclosed herein. This oscillator is intended to provide a single mode output, that is, a primary beam of light of a specific wavelength, but also has the tendency to provide secondary modes, that is, secondary beams of light at different wavelengths and slightly off-axis with respect to the primary beam as a result of grazing incident reflections within the dye cell forming part of the master oscillator. Also disclosed herein are a number of different techniques for reducing or eliminating these secondary modes.

Techniques for reducing and/or eliminating secondary modes in a dye

A laser stimulated Raman molecular beam time and frequency standard utilizing a first electromagnetic beam at a first preselected frequency to pump a molecular beam at a first preselected point along the beam to state select the beam. A second electromagnetic beam (produced from either a different electromagnetic source than utilized to produce the first beam or produced from a portion of the first beam) at a second preselected frequency and a third electromagnetic beam at the first frequency simultaneously pump the molecules of the state selected molecular beam at a second point along the beam in a stimulated Raman process. By locking the frequency difference of the first and second electromagnetic beams to a specific resonant frequency, a time and frequency standard can be produced.

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Livermore, CA, United States of America

Richard P Hackel