Title:
LASER ROD
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO2001052366
Kind Code:
A3
Abstract:
The inventive rod includes a gain medium having first and second equal length portions (110) sharing a common optical axis and an optical rotator (101) disposed between said first and second portions which optical rotator compensates for birefringence. In an exemplary case, the optical rotator includes first (101a) and second (101b) waveplates optically coupled to one another and oriented with respect to one another by a predetermined angle, where the first waveplate receives a polarized beam having a first state, and the second waveplate produces the polarized beam having a second state, the first and second states differing from one another by 90 DEG . Multiple rotators can be employed to compensate strongly birefringent rods, each rotator compensating a section of a rod constructed from a plurality of equal length optical gain elements.
Inventors:
REEDER ROBIN A
Application Number:
PCT/US2000/034619
Publication Date:
December 27, 2001
Filing Date:
December 19, 2000
Export Citation:
Assignee:
RAYTHEON CO (US)
International Classes:
H01S3/07; H01S3/08; (IPC1-7): H01S3/07; H01S3/08
Foreign References:
| GB1341272A | 1973-12-19 | |||
| DE19631265A1 | 1998-02-05 | |||
| US3484714A | 1969-12-16 | |||
| US5563899A | 1996-10-08 |
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