A gas laser, including: a semiconductor laser, an optical beam-shaping system, a pair of electrodes, a discharge tube, a rear mirror, and an output mirror. The pair of electrodes includes two electrodes. The electrodes are symmetrically disposed at an outer layer of the discharge tube in parallel. The electrodes are connected to a radio-frequency power supply via a matching network, and the electrodes operate to modify working gas in the discharge tube through radio-frequency discharge. The rear mirror and the output mirror are disposed at two end surfaces of the discharge tube, respectively. The rear mirror, taken together with the output mirror and the discharge tube, form a resonant cavity. The output mirror is configured to output a laser beam.

The present invention relates to a system for recirculating the gas atmosphere within an excimer laser system, where contaminates, created in the laser's operation, are removed, and the gas concentrations of additive gases, such as Xe, Kr, or others, depleted in the laser operation, are rebalanced to specific lasing mixtures by analyzation and component replenishment from one or more external supplies.

Efficient laser diode excited Thulium (Tm) doped solid state systems, directly matched to a combination band pump transition of Carbon Dioxide (CO.sub.2), have matured to the point that utilization of such in combination with CO.sub.2 admits effectively a laser diode pumped CO.sub.2 laser. The laser diode excited Tm solid state pump permits Continuous Wave (CW) or pulsed energy application. Appropriate optical pumping admits catalyzer free near indefinite gas lifetime courtesy of the absence of significant discharge driven dissociation and contamination. As a direct consequence of the preceding arbitrary multi isotopologue CO.sub.2, symmetric and asymmetric, gas mixes may be utilized without significant degradation or departure from initial mix specifications. This would admit, at raised pressure, a system continuously tunable from 9 m to 1.5 m, or sub picosecond amplification. This methodology offers advantages in regards scalability, pulse energy and power over alternative non linear conversion techniques in access to this spectral region.

A system and method for automatically performing gas optimization after a refill in the chambers of a two chamber gas discharge laser is disclosed. The laser is fired at low power, and the gas in the amplifier laser chamber bled if necessary until the discharge voltage meets or exceeds a minimum value without dropping the pressure below a minimum value. The power output is increased to a burst pattern that approximates the expected operation of the laser, and the amplifier chamber gas bled again if necessary until the voltage and an output energy meet or exceed minimum values, or until the pressure is less than a minimum value. The gas in the master oscillator chamber is then bled if necessary until the output energy of the master oscillator meets or falls below a maximum value, again without dropping the pressure in the chamber below the minimum value. While the pressure is adjusted, bandwidth is also measured and adjusted to stay within a desired range. Once the target values are provided, the process runs quickly without manual interaction.

The present invention relates to a system for recirculating the gas atmosphere within an excimer laser system, where contaminates, created in the laser's operation, are removed, and the gas concentrations of additive gases, such as Xe, Kr, or others, depleted in the laser operation, are rebalanced to specific lasing mixtures by analyzation and component replenishment from one or more external supplies.

A laser pumping method pumps a primary amount of energy into a laser medium to populate an intermediate level near an upper laser level. A lesser amount of energy is pumped into the laser medium to populate an excited level that lies above the upper laser level and transfers atomic or molecular population to the upper laser level by a nonradiative process. A laser device includes a laser medium supporting four levels, including a lower laser level, an upper laser level, an excited level above the laser level from which population transfers to the upper laser level via nonradiative transition, and an intermediate level within a few kT of the upper laser level.

A laser pumping method pumps a primary amount of energy into a laser medium to populate an intermediate level near an upper laser level. A lesser amount of energy is pumped into the laser medium to populate an excited level that lies above the upper laser level and transfers atomic or molecular population to the upper laser level by a nonradiative process. A laser device includes a laser medium supporting four levels, including a lower laser level, an upper laser level, an excited level above the laser level from which population transfers to the upper laser level via nonradiative transition, and an intermediate level within a few kT of the upper laser level.

An intracavity plasma solid state laser with an emission line radiation source of determined wavelength seeding a semiconductor laser gain medium providing a high power laser beam of the determined wavelength. A plasma cell generates a determined wavelength based on an atomic emission line that is received by the semiconductor laser or laser diode having a broadband output encompassing the determined wavelength received from the plasma cell. The laser diode locks on to the determined wavelength and emits a high powered laser beam of the determined wavelength. The intracavity plasma solid state laser creates a laser beam of narrow linewidth comparable to the natural Voight or Doppler linewidth of atomic transition and higher power in a smaller size than previously possible. The intracavity plasma solid state laser is easily manufactured and suitable for placement in an array for targeting a predetermined area.

An embodiment of the present disclosure discloses a method for detecting flatness of a fluorescent wheel in a laser light source, comprising: acquiring, during the rotation of a fluorescent wheel, a spot of laser light emitted by a laser reflected from a substrate of the fluorescent wheel; determining an inner diameter of the spot; and determining flatness of the fluorescent wheel according to the inner diameter of the spot.

A laser and methods for providing a continuous wave output beam. The laser and method includes positioning a micro-plasma chip capable of creating micro-plasmas within a resonant cavity. A gas is input into the resonant cavity and flows around the micro-plasma chip. Micro-plasmas ignite and excite the gas to create metastables. The metastables are further excited by an optical pump having an energy sufficient to cause the metastables to lase.