| 摘要 |
A laser clamping system (10,80,100,130) for a laser medium (13) that include s two heat conductive members (14,16) (one of which is optically transparent) positioned on either side of the laser medium (13). Pressure (using 60,84,106,108) is applied to the conductive members to restrain the laser medium (13) from deforming under pumping conditions to reduce the lensing effect. Thin disc (12) geometry allows the thermal load of laser material to be much closer to the heat conductive members (14,16) so that heat dissipati on is generally more efficient than that of other geometric configurations (e.g . rod or slab). In disc lasers (12) each part of the laser beam experiences th e same temperature gradient so that there is no lensing effect caused by radia l temperature distribution. It has been discovered that any resulting lensing effect is disc lasers (12) is mainly from the thermo-mechanical deformation of the disc (12) itself. Consequently, a disc laser (12) with clamped boundary conditions using the system as described above reduces the lensing effect an d enables scaling laser power to a much higher level compared to unclamped dis c laser systems. The clamping system and method of the present invention also improves performance in rod and slab type laser medium geometries.
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