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:
Jan. 14, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 24, 2001
Luis A. Spinelli, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Juan L. Chilla, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Andrea Caprara, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Briggs Atherton, Derry, NH (US);
Coherent, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A laser for delivering laser radiation at a selected one of a plurality of equally-spaced frequencies extending over a frequency range includes a laser resonator defined by two end mirrors. The resonator includes a surface-emitting semiconductor multilayer gain-structure in optical contact with one of the mirrors. A third mirror located in the laser resonator forms an etalon with that mirror. The third mirror is movable for adjusting a peak transmission frequency of the etalon to align with the selected frequency. The resonator end mirrors are spaced apart by an optical distance selected such that the frequency and frequency-spacing of possible longitudinal lasing modes of the resonator correspond with the plurality of equally-spaced frequencies. When the peak transmission frequency of the etalon is aligned with the selected frequency the laser resonator delivers radiation in a single longitudinal mode at the selected frequency.