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High power, high beam quality regenerative amplifier

Patent ·
OSTI ID:868898
 [1];  [1]
  1. Livermore, CA
+ Show Author Affiliations

A regenerative laser amplifier system generates high peak power and high energy per pulse output beams enabling generation of X-rays used in X-ray lithography for manufacturing integrated circuits. The laser amplifier includes a ring shaped optical path with a limited number of components including a polarizer, a passive 90 degree phase rotator, a plurality of mirrors, a relay telescope, and a gain medium, the components being placed close to the image plane of the relay telescope to reduce diffraction or phase perturbations in order to limit high peak intensity spiking. In the ring, the beam makes two passes through the gain medium for each transit of the optical path to increase the amplifier gain to loss ratio. A beam input into the ring makes two passes around the ring, is diverted into an SBS phase conjugator and proceeds out of the SBS phase conjugator back through the ring in an equal but opposite direction for two passes, further reducing phase perturbations. A master oscillator inputs the beam through an isolation cell (Faraday or Pockels) which transmits the beam into the ring without polarization rotation. The isolation cell rotates polarization only in beams proceeding out of the ring to direct the beams out of the amplifier. The diffraction limited quality of the input beam is preserved in the amplifier so that a high power output beam having nearly the same diffraction limited quality is produced.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
Assignee:
Regents of University of California (Oakland, CA)
Patent Number(s):
US 5239408
OSTI ID:
868898
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (6)

Electronic linewidth narrowing method for single axial mode operation of Q-switched Nd: YAG lasers journal June 1981
Energy scaling of SBS pulse compression conference April 1992
Regenerative YAG:Nd 3+ amplifier with a stimulated Brillouin scattering mirror journal September 1988
Multikilowatt Pockels cell for high average power laser systems journal September 1990
Regenerative amplification in a XeCl excimer laser with a phase-conjugating Brillouin mirror journal March 1984
Amplification of polarized steady-state and pulse signals by a regenerative traveling-wave quantum amplifier containing a Faraday unit journal March 1982

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