WAVELENGTH BEAM COMBINING LASER SYSTEMS UTILIZING ETALONS

摘要

In various embodiments, wavelength beam combining laser systems incorporate etalons to establish external lasing cavities and/or to combine multiple input beams into a single output beam.

主权项

1. A laser system comprising:
an array of beam emitters each emitting a beam, the beams being emitted substantially parallel to each other in a propagation direction; an etalon for receiving the beams and combining the beams into a multi-wavelength beam, the etalon having an optical axis tilted at a non-zero angle with respect to the propagation direction; disposed optically downstream of the beam emitters and optically upstream of the etalon, focusing optics for focusing the beams toward the etalon; and a partially reflective output coupler for receiving the multi-wavelength beam, reflecting a first portion thereof back toward the etalon, and transmitting a second portion thereof as an output beam composed of multiple wavelengths, wherein the etalon comprises:
a partially reflective front surface for receiving the beams, anda back surface having (i) a reflective portion for reflecting the beams back toward the front surface, and (ii) an exit portion from which the multi-wavelength beam exits the etalon, one or more of the beams being reflected by both the front surface and the reflective portion of the back surface prior to combination into the multi-wavelength beam.