Patent ID: 7376160
Filing Date: 2008-05-20
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
1. A laser resonator apparatus for generating a laser beam having beam quality along two transverse axes that is determined largely by the mode discrimination characteristics of one axis, comprising: a slab lasing medium having a first and a second end for emitting a laser beam; an aperture stop with a narrow transverse dimension and an orthogonal wide transverse dimension for defining a beam profile of said laser beam; a first reflector aligned to reflect said laser beam emitted from said first end of said slab back therein, thereby defining a first end of a resonant cavity; an anamorphic telescope having a first end aligned to receive said laser beam emitted from said second end of said slab, said telescope operable to reshape said laser beam profile to be substantially symmetrical about its transverse axes and to emit said reshaped laser beam from a second end of said telescope; a second reflector aligned receive said reshaped laser beam, and operable to reflect said laser beam back into said second end of said telescope, thereby defining a second end of said resonant cavity; and a beam rotator disposed between said anamorphic telescope and said second reflector operable to rotate the beam profile of said reshaped laser beam by 90 degrees after two passes.