Stimulated brillouin scattering mirror system, laser system and amplifying method

• Main Authors: DANE, BRENT C, HACKEL, LLOYD A, HARRIS, FRITZ B
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 05.01.2011
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS, THE OPTICAL OPERATION OF WHICH ISMODIFIED BY CHANGING THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIUM OF THEDEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF THE INTENSITY,COLOUR, PHASE, POLARISATION OR DIRECTION OF LIGHT, e.g.SWITCHING, GATING, MODULATING OR DEMODULATING; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION; ELECTRICITY; FREQUENCY-CHANGING; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICS; PHYSICS; TECHNIQUES OR PROCEDURES FOR THE OPERATION THEREOF

A laser system, such as a master oscillator/power amplifier system, comprises a gain medium and a stimulated Brillouin scattering SBS mirror system. The SBS mirror system includes an in situ filtered SBS medium that comprises a compound having a small negative non-linear index of refraction, such as a perfluoro compound. An SBS relay telescope having a telescope focal point includes a baffle at the telescope focal point which blocks off angle beams. A beam splitter is placed between the SBS mirror system and the SBS relay telescope, directing a fraction of the beam to an alternate beam path for an alignment fiducial. The SBS mirror system has a collimated SBS cell and a focused SBS cell. An adjustable attenuator is placed between the collimated SBS cell and the focused SBS cell, by which pulse width of the reflected beam can be adjusted.