High power laser beam prodn. - by combining successive laser pulses from separate solid state lasers

摘要

A high quality, high power, laser radiation generating process and appts., esp. for high power solid state lasers, are claimed, in which the individual beams (2a-c) from several non-serial beam path sections (1a-c) are combined in a collector (3) to form a single output beam (4). The novelty is that (a) a first laser device (5a) is operated during a first time period (ta); (b) a second laser device (5b) is operated during a second subsequent time period (tb); (c) the operating time periods (ta, tb) of the two laser devices (5a, 5b) or at least one other laser device (5c) are cyclically alternated to form an uninterrupted output beam (4); and (d) the resulting successive individual beams (2a-c) are equiaxially combined by the collector (3). Pref. the laser devices (5a-c) have immediately successive operating time periods (ta-tc). The collector (3) is associated with beam directors (14), esp. mirrors, for the input beams (2a-c). USE/ADVANTAGE - The process and appts. are useful for generating high power laser beams for industrial material processing. The combined output laser beam has the same quality as the individual input beams.