Slab laser and amplifier and method of use

摘要

A slab laser and its method of use for high power applications including the manufacture of semiconductors and deposition of diamond and/or diamond-like-carbon layers, among other materials. A lamp driven slab design with a face-to-face beam propagation scheme and an end reflection that redirects the amplified radiation back out the same input surface is utilized. A side-to-side amplifier configuration permitting very high average and peak powers having scalability is also disclosed. Cavity filters adjacent to pump lamps convert the normally unusable UV portion of the pump lamp spectrum into light in the absorption band of the slab laser, thereby increasing the overall pump efficiency. The angle of the end reflecting surface is changed to cause the exit beam to be at a different angle than the inlet beam, thereby eliminating the costly need to separate the beams external to the laser with the subsequent loss of power.

主权项

1. A method of manufacturing a workpiece comprising the steps of:
providing the workpiece; providing a laser device comprising:
a slab crystal;a light source providing light energy including an ultraviolet frequency band, anda cavity filter material including terbium fluoride doped with samarium, said filler material being provided on at least one side of the slab crystal and adapted for receiving the light energy from the light source, and adapted for converting the light energy at the first ultraviolet frequency band into light energy at a second frequency band of visible light for absorption by the slab crystal for amplifying a laser beam, whereinthe slab crystal is adapted to emit the amplified laser beam from an end; and using said laser device to emit a laser light to add or remove one or more layers of material to/from the workpiece.