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:
May. 05, 1998
Filed:
Jun. 17, 1996
Leonard J Marabella, Torrance, CA (US);
Jacqueline G Berg, Glendale, CA (US);
Gerald W Holleman, Manhattan Beach, CA (US);
Hagop Injeyan, Glendale, CA (US);
James M Zamel, Hermosa Beach, CA (US);
TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
A technique for operating a diode pumped solid state laser in a continuous-wave (cw) mode using diodes blocks (12) that are individually operated in a pulsed mode. For some high power laser applications, it is desirable to provide for operation in pulsed and cw modes, but pump diodes are typically designed for efficient operation in only one of these modes. The invention includes a controller (20) that pulses the individual diode blocks (12) on and off, but not necessarily in unison. For a pulsed mode of operation, the diodes (12) in an array are pulsed either at the same time, or sub-arrays are pulsed in a temporally interleaved manner for a higher effective pulse repetition rate. For the cw mode of operation, the diodes (12) are pulsed sequentially in sub-arrays (A-E), such that at least one sub-array is always energized and the complete array appears to be providing continuous pumping energy. In one embodiment, the sub-arrays (A-E) are columns of the array. In another embodiment, the sub-arrays (12') are each associated with a different solid-state gain medium (10'), the gain media being optically coupled in a single laser.