Femtosecond Laser Oscillator

Abstract

A femtosecond laser oscillator includes a 532 nm pump laser light, a Ti-doped sapphire, a laser resonator, and a dispersion compensation element, etc. The 532 nm pump laser light is radiated via a pump laser light guide device to the Ti-doped sapphire and generates stimulated radiation, the stimulated radiation light oscillates back and forth in the laser resonator and thereby is amplified, and continuous light is outputted. The dispersion compensation element is disposed in the resonator to compensate the dispersion of the outputted laser light resulted from oscillation of the laser light in the resonator to attain a mode locking condition. The mode locking means of the laser against disturbance is implemented in a form of return light outside the resonator, specifically, the emitted continuous light is returned to a femtosecond laser partially and thereby mode locking is achieved, and output of femtosecond pulses is realized.

Claims

1. A femtosecond laser oscillator, comprising a pump laser light with a wavelength of 532 nm, a Ti-doped sapphire, a laser resonator, and a dispersion compensation element, wherein, the pump laser light is radiated into the Ti-doped sapphire via a pump laser light guide device to generate a stimulated radiation; laser light of the stimulated radiation oscillates back and forth in the laser resonator and thereby is amplified, and continuous laser light is outputted; the dispersion compensation element is disposed in the laser resonator to compensate a dispersion of outputted laser light resulted from an oscillation of the laser light in the laser resonator to attain a mode locking condition, wherein a mode locking means of the laser light against a disturbance is implemented in a form of return light outside the laser resonator.

2. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 1, wherein, the return light outside the laser resonator is realized by means of a mirror reflection.

3. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 1, wherein, the return light outside the laser resonator is realized by means of a diffused reflection.

4. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 1, wherein, the return light outside the laser resonator is realized by means of a reflection from a dielectric film reflector.

5. The femtosecond laser oscillator according claim 1, wherein, a light return device outside the laser resonator is disposed on a translation stage.

6. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 1, wherein, a light return device outside the laser resonator is disposed on a rotary stage.

7. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 1, wherein, the dispersion compensation element is a pair of prisms and a height of the pair of prisms is greater than a height of the laser resonator, outputted femtosecond laser light is returned to the laser resonator in an original path via a beam steerer after a mode locking, and passes through the pair of prisms again for a dispersion compensation.

8. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 1, wherein, all elements of the femtosecond laser oscillator are fixed in a permanently fixed manner.

9. The femtosecond laser oscillator according claim 2, wherein, a light return device outside the laser resonator is disposed on a translation stage.

10. The femtosecond laser oscillator according claim 3, wherein, a light return device outside the laser resonator is disposed on a translation stage.

11. The femtosecond laser oscillator according claim 4, wherein, a light return device outside the laser resonator is disposed on a translation stage.

12. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 2, wherein, a light return device outside the laser resonator is disposed on a rotary stage.

13. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 3, wherein, a light return device outside the laser resonator is disposed on a rotary stage.

14. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 4, wherein, a light return device outside the laser resonator is disposed on a rotary stage.

15. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 2, wherein, the dispersion compensation element is a pair of prisms and a height of the pair of prisms is greater than a height of the laser resonator, outputted femtosecond laser light is returned to the laser resonator in an original path via a beam steerer after a mode locking, and passes through the pair of prisms again for a dispersion compensation.

16. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 3, wherein, the dispersion compensation element is a pair of prisms and a height of the pair of prisms is greater than a height of the laser resonator, outputted femtosecond laser light is returned to the laser resonator in an original path via a beam steerer after a mode locking, and passes through the pair of prisms again for a dispersion compensation.

17. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 4, wherein, the dispersion compensation element is a pair of prisms and a height of the pair of prisms is greater than a height of the laser resonator, outputted femtosecond laser light is returned to the laser resonator in an original path via a beam steerer after a mode locking, and passes through the pair of prisms again for a dispersion compensation.

18. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 2, wherein, all elements of the femtosecond laser oscillator are fixed in a permanently fixed manner.

19. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 3, wherein, all elements of the femtosecond laser oscillator are fixed in a permanently fixed manner.

20. The femtosecond laser oscillator according to claim 4, wherein, all elements of the femtosecond laser oscillator are fixed in a permanently fixed manner.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0026] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a femtosecond laser oscillator;

[0027] 101532 nm pump laser; 102pump light reflector; 103focusing lens; 104concave reflector; 105titanium-doped sapphire; 106concave reflector; 107dispersion compensating prism; 108planar reflector; 109planar reflector; 110planar reflector; 111dispersion compensating prism; 112output lens; 113frosted glass; 114back end mirror

[0028] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an external mode locking device disposed on a translation stage;

[0029] 201external mode locking device on translation stage

[0030] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an external mode locking device disposed on a rotary stage;

[0031] 301external mode locking device on rotary stage

[0032] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a femtosecond laser oscillator with a twice dispersion compensation device;

[0033] 401beam steerer; 402dispersion compensating prism; 403dispersion compensating prism; 404planar reflector

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0034] Hereunder the present invention will be further detailed in embodiments, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1

[0035] A femtosecond laser oscillator is shown in FIG. 1, wherein, 532 nm laser light outputted from a 532 nm pump laser 101 is reflected by a pump light reflector 102 and then focused by a focusing lens 103 into a laser resonator to pump a titanium-doped sapphire 105, one part of the spontaneous light emitted from the titanium-doped sapphire 105 is reflected by a concave reflector 106 and a reflector 105 to a back end mirror 114; the other part of the spontaneous light is reflected by a concave reflector 104, passes through a dispersion compensating prism 107, is reflected by a reflector 108 and a reflector 110, passes through a dispersion compensating prism 111, and reaches to an output lens 112. The attitudes of the output lens 112 and the back end mirror 114 are adjusted carefully to realize continuous output of 800 nm light, and the positions of the dispersion compensating prisms 107 and 111 are adjusted carefully to fully compensate the dispersion of the continuous light resulted from oscillation in the resonator. Here, a piece of frosted glass 113 is inserted in the light path of laser light output, so that the outputted laser light is reflected partially to the laser resonator and thereby mode locking is realized.

Embodiment 2

[0036] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an external mode locking device disposed on a translation stage; the external mode locking device 201 on the translation stage consists of a reflector, a reflector bracket, and a translation stage. The device can be disposed outside the entire laser, the light reflected on the reflector can be partially returned to the laser resonator by adjusting the reflector bracket, and thereby mode locking can be realized. The reflector may be inserted into or moved away from the outputted light beam by moving the translation stage, so as to realize output of mode-locked light. Alternatively, the translation stage may be a motor-driven translation stage, and thereby the mode locking device may be controlled electrically.

Embodiment 3

[0037] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an external mode locking device disposed on a rotary stage; the external mode locking device 301 on the rotary stage consists of a reflector, a reflector bracket, and a rotary stage. Different from the embodiment 2, the reflector may be inserted into or moved away from the output light beam by rotating the reflector, so as to realize output of mode-locked light. Alternatively, the rotary stage may be a motor-driven rotary stage, and thereby the mode locking device may be controlled electrically.

Embodiment 4

[0038] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a femtosecond laser oscillator with a twice dispersion compensation device; the laser light outputted through the output lens is returned from the resonator via a beam steerer 401, passes through dispersion compensating prisms 402 and 403, and then reflected out of the laser resonator by a reflector 404, so that the laser light is outputted. In that way, the dispersion prisms may be utilized twice, and the outputted laser light can have certain negative dispersion, and thereby can be used conveniently.

[0039] While the present inventions are described above exemplarily in some embodiments, those skilled in the art should appreciate that various alternations and modifications can be made on the basis of the disclosure in the present invention, and all of such alternations and modifications shall be deemed as falling in the spirit and scope of the present invention.