Folded laser cavity resonator for continuous laser

摘要

Laser resonators with at least two resonator mirrors (1, 9) that delimit the resonator are known. An active laser beam radiating medium (4) and a radiation-reflecting fold element (3) are arranged in the path of the beams reflected by the resonator mirrors (1, 9) and at least one of the mirrors (2) has at least a radiation output window (9). In order to scale such a fold resonator in a technically simple manner, while enabling simple adaptation of the power and quality of the radiation output from the resonator to various requirements, in particular to design a continuously operated laser, the fold element (3) is a radiation-transparent fold unit with two spaced apart parallel surfaces (5, 7) of which one forms a beam input surface (5) and the other a beam reflecting surface (7). A partial surface (6) of the beam input surface (5), upon which beams strike at an angle, is partially reflecting and the remaining areas (8) are less reflective than the partial surface (6). The beam reflecting surface (7) is a totally reflective surface. The beams projected by a mirror (1, 2) upon the partially reflecting surface (6) are subdivided into two partial beams. One partial beam is reflected towards the other mirror (2, 1) and the other partial beam enters the fold unit (3), is reflected by the totally reflective surface (7), leaves the beam reflecting surface (5) at a spot offset in relation to the entrance point of the beam and is reflected toward the other mirror (2, 1).