Compact Laser Beam Combiner
MegaWatt Lasers has developed a compact laser beam combiner, which is a new method that eases the optical, electronic and mechanical design of a high power and repetition rate laser system. This methodology can be scaled to combine a larger number of laser resonators. The beam quality and energy are approximately that of a single laser resonator.
The components of this laser design are:
- Quad pump chamber – The quad pump chamber was designed to minimize spacing between four laser rods. It consists of four independent close-coupled diffuse reflector pump chambers, integrated into a single housing.
- Rhomboid prism – A rhomboid prism combines the beams. The rhomboid prism is rotated about its exit face to combine the output from each individual resonator sequentially.
- Rotational stage – The rotary stage provides for constant rotation about the axis of the output beam.
- Quad driver – A multiple resonator laser driver enables the sharing of the single AC power circuit, HV DC power circuit, safety interlock circuit, microcontroller, diagnostic circuit and energy storage circuit among the multiple laser driver outputs, eliminating redundancy.
This project is described in the paper, entitled “Compact Laser Beam Combiner.”
About MegaWatt Lasers
MegaWatt Lasers (MWL) provides solid-state laser consulting, R&D, and manufacturing capabilities. The company manufactures best-in-class laser pump chambers for a variety of applications covering all solid-state wavelengths. These pump chamber designs provide unsurpassed performance, reliability, and leak integrity to meet the demanding needs of your laser system design. Through many years of experience, they have optimized their pump chamber designs to provide features such as high efficiency diffuse reflectors and symmetric radial cooling. MWL specializes in eye-safe laser technology. They maintain an inventory of standard pump chambers for immediate delivery, while modular design allows for cost-effective, custom solutions.
Their products include:
- Pump Chambers
- Resonators
- Diode-Pumped, Solid-State Lasers
- Drivers and Electronics
- Application-Specific Lasers
- Laser Components
- Laser Rods
- Laser Optics
- Laser Flashlamps
- Laser Trigger Transformers
For more information about products from MegaWatt Lasers, contact IL Photonics.