RAPIDLY TUNABLE LASER

摘要

A rapidly turnable laser wherein the optical resonating cavity is defined by a partially reflecting plane mirror and a rotating faceted polygonal solid. A Brewster window is adapted to sequentially select and direct one and only one of the wavelengths of light from the beam emitted by the lasers amplifying medium along a path back through the lasers amplifying medium as the faceted polygonal solid is continuously rotated. One embodiment of the present invention forms the rotating reflecting solid as having at least one face thereof being a Littrow reflective grating. A pulsed laser is adapted to tune to a different wavelength of light each time some or all of the grating faces of the polygonal solid are rotated to intercept the longitudinal axis of the laser. A second embodiment forms the rotating reflecting solid which reflects laser light to a single stationary Littrow grating. A third embodiment produces pairs of output pulses where the pair members are separated by a short time interval.