An energy storage capsule for storing energy in the form of photons. The body of the capsule may surround a sealed vacuum environment in which several layers of reactive material are contained, including an inner reflective coating, a first photovoltaic cell, an optical amplification medium, a second photovoltaic cell, and an outer reflective coating, provided in that order. The body of the capsule may also be reflective, for example polished aluminum. Light may be emitted from an LED wafer which may be integrated with the surface of the optical amplification medium, directed at the several layers of reactive material. Some photons may be reflected by the reflective material, storing them within the capsule, while others may be absorbed by the photovoltaic cells, powering the LEDs to transmit more photons. The thermal environment of the energy storage capsule may be maintained such that the LEDs can operate at over 100% efficiency.

A passively, Q-switched laser operating at an eye safe wavelength of between 1.2 and 1.4 microns is described. The laser may operate at a lasing wavelength of 1.34 microns and use a gain element of Nd:YVO.sub.4 and a saturable absorber element of V:YAG. The position of the resonator axial mode spectrum relative to a gain peak of the gain element is controlled to yield desired characteristics in the laser output.

A ring laser gyroscope is provided. A light source is configured to generate light of a first wavelength. A plurality primary cavity mirrors are configured to route light of a second wavelength around a primary cavity to a readout device. One primary cavity mirror of the plurality of primary cavity mirrors includes a gain medium. The pumping mirror and the one primary cavity mirror including the gain medium is positioned and configured to reflect the light of the first wavelength back and forth in a pumping cavity through the gain medium, wherein the light of the first wavelength stimulates the gain medium to generate the light of the second wavelength that are reflected around the primary cavity to the readout device.

An optical configuration including axiconical elements that serve as parts of a resonator or an optical chain of an amplifier for an active laser volume with a large transverse dimension. The system may include a single-fold or multiple-folds axiconical elements. One of the system's advantages is providing the means to produce, even with a stable resonator, a high-quality and well-controlled beam, utilizing efficiently a wide active laser medium.

Included are: a first dielectric multilayer film (15) for transmitting a wavelength band including a wavelength of signal light (2) and reflecting first excitation light (4), the first dielectric multilayer film (15) being disposed on one of two end surfaces of a core (11), a first inner cladding (12), a first outer cladding (13), and a second outer cladding (14); and a second dielectric multilayer film (12) for transmitting a wavelength band including the wavelength of the signal light (2) and reflecting the first excitation light (4), the second dielectric multilayer film (12) being disposed on the other one of the two end surfaces.

A laser medium unit includes: a plate-shaped laser gain medium which includes a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface and generates emission light by the irradiation of excitation light from the first surface; a reflection member that is provided on the second surface so as to reflect the excitation light and the emission light; and a cooling member that cools the laser gain medium. The laser gain medium includes an irradiation area which is irradiated with the excitation light and an outer area which is located outside the irradiation area when viewed from a thickness direction intersecting the first surface and the second surface. The cooling member is thermally connected to the second surface through the reflection member so that a cooling area of the laser gain medium is formed on the second surface.

A pulse laser apparatus (100) for creating laser pulses (1), in particular soliton laser pulses (1), based on Kerr lens mode locking of a circulating light field in an oscillator cavity (10), comprises at least two resonator mirrors (11, 12, . . . ) spanning a resonator beam path (2) of the oscillator cavity (10), at least one Kerr-medium (21, 22, 23) for introducing self-phase modulation and self-focusing to the circulating light field in the oscillator cavity (10), at least one gain-medium (31) for amplifying the circulating light field in the oscillator cavity (10), and a tuning device (40) for setting a first mode-locking condition and a second mode-locking condition of the oscillator cavity (10) such that an intra-cavity threshold-power for mode-locking at the first mode-locking condition is lower than that at the second mode-locking condition, wherein the first mode-locking condition is adapted for starting or shutting-down of the Kerr lens mode locking and the second mode-locking condition is adapted for continuous Kerr lens mode locking and a resonator-internal peak-power of the circulating light field is higher at the second mode-locking condition than at the first mode-locking condition. Furthermore, a method of operating a pulse laser apparatus is described.

Radiation field amplifier system for a radiation field comprising an amplifying unit and a heat dissipation system with one heat spreading element or several heat spreading elements, said one heat spreading element or at least one of said several heat spreading elements of said heat dissipation system is pressed with a contact surface within a contact area against said amplifying unit and said contact surface rises starting from a geometrical reference plane in direction towards said amplifying unit and a distance d between said contact surface and said geometrical reference plane attains its largest value within a central area, which is arranged inside said contact area and said distance d is smaller outside said central area than inside said central area.

Impingement cooling devices for a laser disk include a carrier plate on the front side of which the laser disk can be secured, and a supporting structure, on the front side of which the rear side of the carrier plate is secured. The supporting structure has a plurality of cooling liquid feed lines from which the cooling liquid emerges in the direction of the rear side of the carrier plate and a plurality of cooling liquid return lines. The feed and return lines run parallel to one another in the longitudinal direction of the supporting structure, and the supporting structure includes a plurality of cutouts or the rear side of the carrier plate that are open toward the supporting structure, and the cooling liquid feed lines lead into and the cooling liquid return lines lead away from the plurality of cutouts.

A method for manufacturing an optical element includes a bonding step of bonding a first and a second element portion to each other without interposing an adhesive therebetween. The bonding step includes: a first step of fixing the first and the second element portion with an intermediate layer disposed between these portion, the intermediate layer containing an element substitutable for a constituent element of a bonded portion in the first and the second element portion, the intermediate layer being colored; and a second step of integrating a part of the intermediate layer with the first and the second element portion, and making a part of the intermediate layer transparent to laser light by irradiating the intermediate layer with giant pulse laser light and causing it to be absorbed into the intermediate layer after the first step.