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:
Aug. 18, 1998
Filed:
Jan. 17, 1997
David E Hargis, La Jolla, CA (US);
Sven E Nelte, Carlsbad, CA (US);
Laser Power Corporation, San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
A longitudinally-cooled laser element assembly comprises an optically transparent heat sink (OTH) coupled to a laser element and a heat sink. An etalon structure including a first flat surface and a second, substantially parallel flat surface is formed in the laser element and/or the OTH. In some embodiments, a balanced etalon is provided by forming a reflector on the second flat surface of the etalon that has a reflectivity approximately equal to the Fresnel loss at the interface between the OTH and the laser element. In some embodiments the laser element assembly includes a second OTH coupled to the laser element at a second interface, thereby defining a second Fresnel loss. Preferably, the second OTH has an index of refraction substantially equal to the index of refraction of the first OTH, so that said first and second Fresnel losses are approximately equal and a balanced etalon is formed. In some embodiments the laser element comprises a solid-state gain medium. In other embodiments the laser element comprises a nonlinear frequency conversion crystal. An intracavity frequency-converted laser is described in which OTHs are used to cool both the gain medium and the nonlinear material.