Patent ID: 7606273
Filing Date: 2009-10-20
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
1. An efficient and low-noise solid-state laser comprising: an optical cavity containing a solid-state laser material, serving as a laser gain medium, at least part of which is population-inversed in response to an excitation, and a pair of resonator mirrors; a laser diode serving as a pump source that emits light with an emission spectrum matching the absorption spectrum of the gain medium; a set of optical elements for beam shaping so that the beam emitted from the laser diode spatially matches the solid-state laser gain medium; a control circuit further comprising a DC generator for generating DC bias and a local oscillator for generating RF signal to modulate the DC bias, the resultant RF modulated drive current energizes said laser diode, whereby the laser operation is repetitively on-off or is continuously perturbed, whereby the output spectrum of the laser diode is stable, whereby the laser gain medium is stably excited and the output power of the solid-state laser monotonically changes with the DC bias of the laser diode drive current; one or more automatic temperature controller(s) affixed to said laser diode, and to said solid-state laser material, for active temperature control such that the temperature of the laser diode and the solid-state laser gain medium can be controlled dependently or independently; and an automatic power control loop for adjusting drive current DC bias to maintain output power of the solid-state laser at a predetermined level; wherein said automatic power control loop further comprising: wherein: said photon-to-electron conversion device is external to the solid-state laser system: it exposes only to the interior of a sealed box so designed that said photon-to-electron conversion device only accepts light split from the solid-state laser output beam, stray light is completely isolated; wherein: said solid-state laser includes fiber laser.