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. 02, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 05, 1996
David E Hargis, La Jolla, CA (US);
Sven E Nelte, Carlsbad, CA (US);
Laser Power Corporation, San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
An intracavity frequency-converted laser having an intracavity reflector situated to reflect converted radiation at a nonzero angle with respect to the optical axis. The laser includes an optical cavity that defines an optical axis, a gain medium for providing a fundamental laser emission, a pump source for pumping the gain medium, and a nonlinear material for frequency converting the fundamental laser emission to provide first and second converted beams that propagate in opposite directions within the optical cavity. An angled reflector that reflects optical radiation at the converted wavelength, but is transmissive at the fundamental wavelength is situated within the optical cavity to reflect one of the converted beams along a path angled with respect to the optical axis. Advantageously, reflecting the converted radiation before it propagates through the gain medium avoids absorption losses. Furthermore, interference between the reflected beam and other converted beam is avoided due to the angle of reflection. In one embodiment, the gain medium comprises an Nd.sup.3+ doped material, the laser is designed to lase on the .sup.4 F.sub.3/2 .fwdarw..sup.4 I.sub.9/2 transition at about 870-960 nm, and a nonlinear crystal is situated to frequency-double the emission of the gain medium to produce blue light at about 435-480 nm.