Patent ID: 7633979
Filing Date: 2009-12-15
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
1. An all-solid-state laser system that produces coherent UV light comprising: a seed laser that produces wavelength-swept optical seeds; a slave laser oscillator; one or more optical isolators to prevent the seeder from interference/damage caused by the light fed back from the slave laser; optical elements for effective injection of the optical seeds into the slave laser and for efficient extraction of the laser output; one or more nonlinear optical crystals for wavelength conversion; wherein said slave laser oscillator further comprises: a pair of cavity mirrors; a solid-state gain medium disposed between the cavity mirrors; an odd number of semiconductor light sources to generate pump light matching the absorption characteristics of the gain medium, each is a narrow array or bar disposed lengthwise along the axis of the slave laser gain medium, to generate monochromatic or quasi-monochromatic (bandwidth <100 nm) excitation light sufficient to cause substantial population inversion in the slave laser gain medium; a power supply, electrically connected to the semiconductor light sources, for array level control; a pump chamber tubular in shape into which is positioned the slave laser gain medium such that the pump chamber effectively surrounds the gain medium, wherein an inner surface of the pump chamber, except for regions where the pump light enters the pump chamber, is diffusely reflective thereby providing a diffusive reflection of the pump light that strikes the inner surface sufficient to enable a multi-pass absorption of the excitation light by the slave laser gain medium; and a light delivery system for effective coupling of the pump light into the pump chamber; wherein: the seeder is driven by a drive current intentionally changing at a frequency at least one order of magnitude higher than the reciprocal of the upper state lifetime of the slave laser gain medium; such that the wavelength sweeping spectrum of the optical seeds is stable and covers one or more longitudinal modes of the slave laser; whereby the cavity length of the slave laser oscillator is not actively controlled.