Patent ID: 8737438
Filing Date: 2014-05-27
Classification: B23K,C30B

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for reducing beam divergence, the apparatus comprising: a laser source configured to generate a plurality of beam pulses; a pulse stretcher configured to lengthen an input beam received from the laser source by reflecting a portion of the input beam through a delay path comprising a plurality of mirrors, the pulse stretcher being further configured to recombine the reflected portion of the input beam with the non-reflected portion of the input beam; a stabilization metrology module configured to measure beam divergence of a beam output from the pulse stretcher, wherein the stabilization metrology module is further configured to transmit a control signal to a beam steering unit if the measured beam divergence exceeds a predetermined threshold; and the beam steering unit disposed before an input of the pulse stretcher, the beam steering unit comprising an adjustable mirror, wherein the beam steering unit is configured to minimize beam pointing errors of the beam entering the pulse stretcher by adjusting the adjustable mirror in response to receiving a control signal from the stabilization metrology module.