The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 30, 1981
Filed:
May. 01, 1978
Gerald D Ferguson, Yardley, PA (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A laser device for generating a high power output in a pulse transmission de. The laser corrects for thermally induced birefringence losses. A flashlamp is actuated to cause an atomic population inversion in an adjacent laser rod. Thereafter, population inversion in the rod is decreased and the laser intra-cavity optical field increased by a linear resonator. This resonator includes a mirror, the laser rod in a cavity generating a single laser beam, a birefringent crystal converting the single beam into a pair of beams each having a different polarity and vice versa on return, a half-wave plate placing the polarization of one of the beams in correspondence with that of the other beam, and a reflecting polarizer reflecting only that polarization through a Q-switch such as a Pockel's cell, inactivated, and to a second mirror. The second mirror reflects the pair of beams back through the switch and to the polarizer, from which they return to the birefringent crystal and laser rod. Thus, no part of any beam is lost during resonation due to birefringent effects. After sufficient time has been allowed for the laser optical field to reach a desired maximum level, bias voltage is provided to activate the Pockel's cell, causing the pair of beams returning therefrom to the reflecting polarizer to have a polarization which is passed through the polarizer as an output. A quarter-wave plate inserted in the resonator also reduces beam distortion resulting from birefringent effects.