Method and device for shielding a high-power laser apparatus and high-power-laser optical system employing such a device

摘要

Method for shielding a high-power laser apparatus (S) in which a laser beam is generated and then amplified in at least a first amplification stage, including spatial filtering (4) of the amplified laser beam, phase correction (3) carried out on the laser beam before it is spatially filtered, and a measurement of the aberrations (7) on the laser beam. The phase of the beam is corrected so as to produce a beam having minimal aberrations after spatial filtering. The shielding device (D, D′) implementing this method may in particular be employed in apparatus using an intense laser beam of high (terawatt) peak power and in proton therapy units.

主权项

1. A method for shielding a high-power laser apparatus in which a laser beam is generated and then amplified in at least a first amplification stage, comprising:
spatial filtering of said amplified laser beam by a filter pinhole, the laser beam being focused on the filter pinhole; correcting the phase of the laser beam prior to the spatial filtering; and measuring aberrations of the laser beam, wherein the correcting the phase of the laser beam is controlled so as to produce the laser beam with minimized aberrations after the spatial filtering, the filter pinhole is configured having a size to eliminate, from the laser beam, the aberrations at spatial frequencies that can give rise, by propagation, to surges in the laser beam, and the laser beam passes through the filter pinhole only once.