Gas discharge laser oscillator and gas discharge laser amplifier providing linearly polarized light

摘要

A laser oscillator includes: a optical resonator having an orthogonal mirror and a partial reflection mirror; a laser gas acting as a laser medium; and a 90-degree folding mirror acting as a polarization selecting element. The orthogonal mirror has two reflecting surfaces orthogonal to each other. The 90-degree folding mirror is arranged such that the polarization direction of the laser oscillated light is parallel to the reference axis set in a plane perpendicular to an optical axis of the optical resonator. The orthogonal mirror is arranged such that the polarization direction of the laser oscillated light is parallel to the valley line of the orthogonal mirror. This configuration can compensate anisotropy of optical characteristics in a laser medium, and stably generate linearly polarized laser light having excellent isotropy in a simple manner.

主权项

1. A transverse flow type laser oscillator comprising:
a reciprocating type optical resonator having a reflecting mirror and an output mirror; a laser medium for amplifying light, provided in the optical resonator; and a polarization selecting element for controlling the oscillated light to linear polarization, provided in the optical resonator; wherein the reflecting mirror is an orthogonal mirror having two reflecting surfaces orthogonal to each other, and the polarization selecting element is arranged such that a polarization direction of the oscillated light is parallel to a reference axis set in a plane perpendicular to an optical axis of the optical resonator, the orthogonal mirror is arranged such that the polarization direction of the oscillated light is parallel to a valley line of the orthogonal mirror, a laser gas flow direction is set in a first direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical resonator, and a discharge direction is set in a second direction perpendicular to the optical axis and the first direction, and the reference axis is arranged to intersect with the discharge direction at an angle of 45 degrees.