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US006570713B2
(12) United States Patent ao) Patent No.: us 6,570,713 B2
Bittenson (45) Date of Patent: May 27,2003
(54) METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZING THE OUTPUT BEAM CHARACTERISTICS OF A LASER
(75) Inventor: Steven N. Bittenson, Bedford, MA (US)
(73) Assignee: Silicon Valley Group, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
(21) Appl. No.: 09/793,126
(22) Filed: Feb. 27, 2001
(65) Prior Publication Data
US 2002/0118721 Al Aug. 29, 2002
(51) Int. CI.7 G02B 27/12; H01S 3/10;
H01S 3/08
(52) U.S. CI 359/640; 359/639; 372/20;
372/100
(58) Field of Search 359/238, 264,
359/618, 558, 639, 640; 250/492.1, 492.2; 355/53, 55; 372/19, 20, 59, 57, 100
(56) References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
6,154,470 A * 11/2000 Basting et al 372/19
The use of refractive optical elements to reduce or eliminate unwanted wavelength components from a laser emission. The method and apparatus described herein introduces modifications to the parallelism of one or more existing optical elements within the laser to dispersively separate wavelength components of the laser emission. According to embodiments of the invention, modifications in the parallelism can be made to the output coupler, intra-cavity polarizing optical components, and extra-cavity beamsplitter to accomplish separation of wavelength components without the introduction of additional optical components or reduction in the operating capacity of the laser. Additional optical components can be used to accomplish further separation of the wavelength components after the laser beam leaves the laser resonator.
17 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets
