End pumped slab laser cavity

The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, sold, imported, and/or licensed by or for the Government of the United States of America.

This invention relates to laser range finders and laser designators.

Laser range finders and laser designators are becoming an increasingly vital component in high precision targeting engagements. The precise and accurate range to target information is an essential variable to the fire control equation of all future soldier weapons. This information is easily, and timely, provided by laser range finders. The laser designator operator surgically selects a target by placing the high-energy laser beam onto the target.

Unfortunately, current fielded laser systems are bulky, heavy and expensive. These laser systems were developed with twenty year old laser technology.

Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide an end pumped slab laser cavity for a laser range finder and laser designator that minimizes the size, weight, performance and production costs of the laser range finder and laser designator. To meet this object, a laser diode pump produces laser outputs into an Nd:YAG folded cavity. The output from Nd:YAG folded cavity 101 passes through a passive/active Q-switch 102 and then, through an optical parametric oscillator 103 . The components of this laser range finder or laser designator are optically fused together into a single block. The end result is an eye safe 1.5 μ output for laser designation or range finding.

This invention proposes a new concept, the End Pumped Slab Laser Cavity, which makes the development/fabrication of a very compact laser range finder or designator feasible.

These and other objects of the invention will become readily apparent in light of the Detailed Description Of The Invention and the attached drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention having an end-pumped Nd:YAG—OPO micro-slab design.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the present invention giving more details of the end-pumped Nd:YAG—OPO micro-slab design.

The present invention includes several optical components fused into one ‘block’ or pseudo-monolithic laser cavity. It is termed “pseudo-monolithic” since many components are incorporated into the structure. The proposed invention is named ‘End Pumped Slab’ because of its design is intended for laser diode pumping from the end, even though for higher energy diode pumping from the sides is possible. FIG. 1 depicts the components of the End Pumped Slab Laser Cavity. As shown in FIG. 1 a laser diode pump 100 produces laser outputs to an Nd:YAG folded cavity 101 . The output from Nd:YAG folded cavity 101 passes through a passive/active Q-switch 102 and then, through an optical parametric oscillator 103 . The end result is an eye safe 1.5 μ output.

The optical components described above are bonded (diffusion or optical epoxy) to form one optical ‘block’. All components are pre-aligned during the crystal manufacturing process to form the optical laser cavity. The polarization coating at one of the turn angles is required only if linearly polarized output is required for pumping an external optical parametric oscillator (OPO) cavity 103 (e.g. to the 1.5 micron eye safe wavelength) or if an active, polarization dependent, Q-switch is used for precise timing of the laser output pulse. This polarization is essential for effective OPO conversion and active Q-switch 102 operation. The active material is Nd:YAG. The Q-switch 102 can be an optical passive device made from chromium YAG if critical pulse firing timing is not required. This component can also be coated with the proper optical layers for the laser cavity's output coupler.

All the optical components previously described have been fabricated in YAG-base materials. This is not necessary but desired in that the End Pumped Slab Laser Cavity has a uniform coefficient of thermal expansion and the Nd:YAG material is relatively inexpensive and available. This leads to robust/dependable operation over the wide range of thermal conditions the laser must operate. Other materials may be used in the End Pumped Slab Laser Cavity if conditions allow. For example, Nd:YVO4, Nd:YLF, Nd:YAP, etc. are all candidate materials that may be used in End Pumped Slab laser cavity configuration of the present invention.

The present invention simplifies the producibility of a laser range finder system. The fabrication of the End Pumped Slab Laser Cavity can be done using batch processing. Large rectangular, pre-coated optical components can be joined together, optically aligned to form the laser cavity and then sliced to produce modules. This batch process can greatly reduce the overall fabrication costs of the End Pumped Slab Laser Cavity module. The End Pumped Slab module is ultra-compact. Its overall size is approximately 15 mm (L)×10 mm (W)×5 mm (H) as depicted in FIG. 2 . This extremely small size of a laser cavity allows for construction of a very compact, and lightweight, laser range finder. FIG. 2 also shows the High-Reflection Coating (HR), the Polarized High-Reflection Coating (Pol-HR), and the Anti-Reflection Coating (AR) specifications for one example of the present invention. A standard Nd:YAG Crystal has the following properties. Such crystals can be found from such companies as Casix™.

Of course for the present invention, these standard performance specifications would have to be changed in accordance with the sample specifications given in FIG. 2 . However, such crystals are available and may be adapted to accommodate the present invention.

The End Pumped Slab Laser Cavity is a module that requires none of the labor extensive alignment procedures as current laser range finders/designators. No optical holders have to be fabricated, no complex engineering is required to design the optical cavity, and no precise laser cavity alignment(s) are required. Therefore, production labor and material costs are greatly reduced.

The End Pumped Slab Laser Cavity is a modular component. The modularity lends to ease of design for different pump sources. It can be incorporated in a flash lamp pumped or laser diode pumped system. The energy of the pump source (e.g. drive electronics) can be tailored for the specific mission (e.g. long range vs. medium range performance) without forcing all of the systems to meet the high demand requirements of the few.

In particular, the cavity is configured for optimal absorbtion for diode laser pumping over broad temperature ranges. The End Pumped Slab cavity is designed to be pumped by laser diode arrays on either side of the “plate.” The width of the cavity has been designed to absorb nearly all of the laser diode pump output.

The present invention may be used as the laser source in very compact laser range finders or laser designators. It can be coupled with an OPO cavity for generation of eye safe laser output for eye safe laser range finding. These laser range finders have both military and commercial applications. The compact design of the End Pumped Slab Laser Cavity also lends itself to placement in other laser-based portable/hand-held devices. These may be medical devices, industrial tools or scientific equipment that would benefit from the size/weight reduction, dependable performance, and low cost of the End Pumped Slab Laser Cavity.