Abstract:
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for improving the performance of a microlaser. A laser material ( 110 ) is optically contacted to a nonlinear material ( 120 ), either directly or through an intermediate clear or undoped substrate ( 115 ), to form a microlaser assembly. Continuous pressure, either static or variable, is applied to the microlaser assembly in a direction perpendicular to the interface of the elements in the assembly.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/979,955 filed Nov. 26, 2001, which is the national phase of International Application No. PCT/US00/14635 filed May 26, 2000, which designated, inter alia, the United States, and which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/136,108, filed May 26, 1999. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    This invention relates to miniature lasers and other optical devices that use optical contacting methods to affix polished components to one another.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0005]    In many optical applications, it is desirable to rigidly join two polished components into a composite optical assembly. Compound lenses, for example, may consist of two or more elements with different indices of refraction and/or dispersion. In certain cases, adjoining surfaces are polished to the same radius of curvature and joined to each other to form a single unit. Techniques for joining the two materials include a variety of optical cements and epoxies that may be cured with the help of UV radiation or heat and, in some cases, optical contacting.  
           [0006]    While adhesives are commonly used for low power applications, they often degrade in the presence of high-powered laser radiation. Optical contacting techniques are free from this problem since the surfaces to be joined are placed in direct contact with one another. These techniques have most commonly been used in the optical shop to rigidly affix two components (typically of the same material) for polishing or other operations. Finished optical components, such as air-gapped etalons and zero-order waveplates, have also been assembled via optical contacting and, in the absence of particulate contamination or temperature gradients, form robust mechanical assemblies.  
           [0007]    Optical contacting has also been used for the assembly of miniature laser devices. U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,023 describes an intracavity-frequency doubled laser microlaser device consisting of at least three planar optical components. According to this patent, assembly via optical contacting is a preferred embodiment that leads to low cost, mechanically rugged devices. In addition, advantageous etalon effects can be achieved by using components with dissimilar indices of refraction that produce advantageous frequency selective etalon effects when the optical path length of the individual components is carefully controlled. U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,766 discloses several microlaser devices in which one of the optically contacted intracavity components is used to mount and heat sink the assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,713 describes a tunable, blue, intracavity-doubled microlaser in which one surface of the nonlinear contacted mounting plate crystal is optically contacted to the gain medium for compactness and ease of assembly.  
           [0008]    In these cases where the optically contacted surfaces are placed inside a laser resonator, it is desirable to reduce the optical losses associated with the interface to a level that makes them insignificant with respect to other sources of intracavity loss (coatings, bulk crystal loss, etc.). In intracavity-frequency doubled lasers, for example, the nonlinear conversion efficiency increases superlinearly with intracavity power. Since this power increases rapidly with decreasing loss, it is desirable to reduce the intracavity loss to the lowest possible value. Possible sources of losses at the optically contacted intracavity interface between two materials include scattering, debonding due to differential thermal expansion and inhomogeneities due to localized variations in the optical properties of the bonded surfaces.  
           [0009]    Therefore, it would be an advantage to provide an optical contacting method that reduces the optical losses at the interface between the component pieces of an optically contacted microlaser assembly. Ideally, such a method could be used with commonly-employed gain and nonlinear optical materials including neodymium-doped YAG and neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate, chromium-doped lithium strontium aluminum fluoride, potassium titanyl phosphate, beta barium borate and lithium triborate. It would be additionally advantageous if the improved optical contacting technique offered measurable improvements in the losses and/or homogeneity of optically contacted surfaces designed for use outside of a laser resonator.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    Additionally, I have developed an improved optical contacting method and apparatus that yields reduced losses in an intracavity-doubled microlaser. According to the invention, pressure is applied to the assembled microlaser in a direction perpendicular to the interface, reducing the losses. This pressure can be a static pressure, such as from a mechanical means, or can be a variable pressure, such as from a piezoelectric actuator.  
           [0011]    In a preferred embodiment, this technique is applied to the manufacture of an intracavity-doubled neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate laser. Alternative embodiments include nonlinear optical crystals with contacted protective windows and other optically contacted assemblies as zero-order waveplates. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an optically contacted microlaser designed to generate the second harmonic output of a diode-pumped Nd:YVO 4  laser; and  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is an exploded sectional view of a mechanical assembly for applying static pressure to an optically contacted assembly consisting of two or more miniature platelets. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0014]    This invention is described in one preferred embodiment with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2. While this embodiment demonstrates perhaps a best mode for achieving this invention&#39;s objectives, it may be appreciated by those skilled in the art that there are numerous other methods for achieving its objectives without deviating from the spirit or scope of the invention.  
         [0015]    As used in this description, the term “optical contact” or “optical contacting” refers to a joining of two materials through the steps of: (1) polishing the two surfaces so that they are essentially free of scratches and digs (scratch/dig figure of 60/40or less) and have curvatures that are matched to better than 1 fringe over the area of contact; (2) cleaning the surfaces to remove all lint, dust and other contaminants from the surface; (3) placing the two surfaces in physical contact with one another; and (4) applying a light pressure to the two components to force out the air that is trapped between the two parts.  
         [0016]    When this process is carried out correctly, the surfaces will be drawn together by van der Waals forces. In the case of identical glass pieces, the force holding the surfaces together is in the range of 29 to 43 psi and a shear force of approximately 114 psi acting parallel to the contacted surface is required to separate them. In the optical shop, glass pieces are usually separated with a sharp blow from a wooden mallet or by applying local heat to one edge of the joint with a Bunsen burner or other heat source. In the latter case, differential expansion across the contacted surface acts to break the bond.  
         [0017]    Optical contacting techniques have been used to assemble compact solid state laser devices that are typically pumped by the output of a semiconductor laser diode. Advantages of the contacting technique for the assembly of these devices include ease of manufacture, advantageous etalon effects that can be used to stabilize the frequency spectrum and harmonic output of an intracavity doubled laser (U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,023) and the efficient removal of heat from the gain material (U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,766). Other laser devices that may benefit from the optical contacting assembly method include passively Q-switched microlasers, pump modulated microlasers and a variety of devices where sum frequency generation is used to generate an output that is shorter than the oscillation wavelength of the laser. In all cases, it is advantageous to minimize the linear losses of the assembly that may be due to bulk scattering the optical materials and at the optically contacted interfaces. In addition, it is desirable to minimize the spatial loss variations across the aperture of the assembled device.  
         [0018]    In the course of investigations into the properties of optically contacted microlasers, I discovered that the continuous application of static pressure or a variable active pressure to an assembled device produces a significant increase in output power and increases the area of the device over which a constant output power is obtained. Additionally, there is evidence of an improved spatial mode structure, especially at higher input pump powers. In an intracavity-doubled microlaser consisting of optically contacted platelets of Nd:YVO 4 , undoped YAG and KTP, the application of pressure by means of a common office clamp increased the visible output power of the device by 20%. Similar effects have been observed when pressure was applied to a blue microlaser that used potassium niobate to frequency double the intracavity field.  
         [0019]    This result is unexpected and unanticipated in the prior art. Based on preliminary experiments, I believe that the pressure-assisted optical contacting technique can be used to improve the performance of any optically contacted microlaser assembly and, potentially, devices that are designed to operate outside the laser cavity. For example, borate crystals with optically contacted protective windows may perform better in both intracavity and extracavity applications when pressure is applied in accordance with the present invention. The technique may also improve the performance of same-material assemblies, like zero-order waveplates, by reducing the interface losses and/or opposing forces that act to break the van der Waals bonds that hold the two surfaces together.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an intracavity-doubled microlaser  100  consisting of a laser gain crystal  110 , such as a 3 mm×3 mm square neodymium doped yttrium-vandate (Nd:YVO 4 ) crystal with a thickness of 0.4 mm, a substrate  115 , such as a 9 mm diameter circular undoped or clear yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG) disc with a thickness of 0.4 mm, and a nonlinear (second harmonic generation) crystal  120 , such as a 3 mm×3 mm square crystal of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP or KTiOPO 4 ) with a thickness of 1.5 mm. A pump radiation  105  from a laser, such as an 808 nm diode laser, is incident on an input surface  112  of the laser gain crystal  110 . A dielectric mirror is applied to this input surface  112  using known techniques to achieve a reflectivity in excess of 99.5% at the 1064 nm laser wavelength and high transmission (&gt;90%) at the pump wavelength. The opposite surface of the laser gain crystal  110  is optically contacted to one face of the substrate  115 . The inner face of the nonlinear crystal  120  is similarly optically contacted to the opposite face of the substrate  115  and aligned with the laser gain crystal  110 . The nonlinear crystal  120  has an output face  122  that is coated for high reflectivity (&gt;99.5%) at the laser wavelength and high transmission (&gt;90%) at the second harmonic wavelength, for example, of 532 nm. An output beam  125 , in this example, consists primarily of green second harmonic light with a small component at the laser wavelength.  
         [0021]    Other nonlinear materials, such as potassium niobate (KN or KNbO 3 ), can be used in the microlaser assembly  100 . Other laser gain materials, such as neodymium doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) can be used in the microlaser assembly  100 .  
         [0022]    According to the prior art, the components of the intracavity doubled microlaser  100  are held in place by optical contacting, although an adhesive may be applied to the periphery of the joined surfaces to add mechanical stability. The current invention improves the performance of the microlaser  100  by applying pressure along the axis of the assembly. This pressure may be a static pressure generated by various mechanical means known to the art, an example of which is shown in FIG. 2. The pressure may also be a variable pressure generated by a variable pressure mechanism, such as a piezoelectric actuator.  
         [0023]    In a mechanical pressure assembly  200  shown in FIG. 2, an optically contacted microlaser  205 , similar to that shown in FIG. 1, is held between an indium washer  210  adjacent the laser gain material  110  and a flat washer  215  adjacent the nonlinear material  120 . A spring washer  220 , such as a Belleville washer, curved disc spring or wave washer, is positioned above the flat washer  215 . A stainless steel spherical washer  230  is placed above the spring washer  220 . The entire assembly is held together in a hollow body piece  250  by a bottom threaded ring  235  and a top threaded ring  240 . The substrate  115  contacts the inside surface of the body piece  250 . Variable pressure along the axis A of the microlaser assembly  205  is applied by the combined action of the threaded rings  235  and  240  and the spring washer  220 . Pressure may be increased by tightening one or both of the rings  235  and  240  to exert a compression force on the microlaser assembly  205 . The indium washer  210  serves the dual purpose of heat removal and positioning of the gain medium. Pump radiation  255  is incident on the microlaser assembly  205  from the bottom of the assembly  205  through axial holes  262  and  264  in the bottom threaded ring  235  and the indium washer  210 , respectively. An output beam  260  emerges from the top of the assembly  205  through axial holes  266 ,  268 ,  270  and  272  in the flat washer  215 , spring washer  220 , spherical washer  230  and the top threaded ring  240 , respectively.  
         [0024]    Other embodiments and modifications of this invention may occur to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of these teachings. For example, pressure may be applied to a four-component assembly designed for the generation of third harmonic radiation through a sequential double-and-sum process. In addition, the technique may be applied to larger component assemblies with non-planar end faces. I also believe the technique may be used to good advantage with nonlinear crystal assemblies having optically contacted end windows and with contacted assemblies of similar materials. Likewise, improved output may be achieved through the use of a variable pressure applied to the device through mechanisms, such as piezoelectric actuators or other embodiments known to those skilled in the art.  
         [0025]    Although the present invention has been described in detail in connection with the discussed embodiments, various modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be determined by the attached claims.