Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Composite – Of inorganic material
Patent
1995-10-30
1998-07-21
Nold, Charles
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Composite
Of inorganic material
372 53, 372 20, 372 40, 264 124, H01S 322
Patent
active
057833192
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to waveguide tunable lasers.
As is known and described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,092, lasers (an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission radiation") are light amplifying devices which produce high intensity pulses of monochromatic light concentrated in a well-collimated beam, commonly called a laser beam. The laser beam has found wide application in photography, communications, industrial measuring instruments, and the like.
Various materials have been used as lasing media. For example, it is known that stimulated emission can be produced in various organic solutions. The first such solutions were of dyes, as reported by Sorokin, et al., IBM Journal, Vol. II, p. 130 (March 1967) and, since then, devices which have been used to produce such stimulated radiation have commonly been known as "dye lasers." Some materials which fluoresce or scintillate outside the visible spectrum also have been used. A compilation of materials which have served as the active material in dye lasers is provided in the above-cited article of Sorokin, et al., and in a review by Kagan, et al., in Laser Focus, Vol. 26 (September 1968).
U.S. patents which describe dye lasers include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,541,470; 3,679,995; 3,684,979; 3,818,371; 4,397,023; 4,603,422, and references cited therein.
The characteristics of traditional dye lasers which make them attractive are the possibilities of wide spectral range and tunability at low cost. The laser can be operated anywhere in the visible or into the ultraviolet or infrared ranges simply by changing to a solution which emits electro-magnetic radiation at the desired spectral output point.
The output wavelengths of these traditional dye lasers are also tunable, either by varying the concentration of the solution, by varying the solvent, or by introducing a wavelength selective element such as a grating reflector into the optical cavity to control the emission wavelength. Significant spectral narrowing without significant energy reduction is an additional benefit obtained with the use of a grating reflector, i.e., line widths of less than 1 Angstrom can be achieved in contrast to the 50-200 Angstrom line widths which are characteristic of dye laser emissions.
Typical dye lasers have been pumped with Q-switched ruby or glass lasers, or pumping has been accomplished with flashlamps. Pumping has been either in a longitudinal geometry, in which the pumping radiation is colinear with the optical cavity axis and the stimulated radiation, or in a transverse geometry, with the excitation beams at right angles to the optical cavity axis.
Numerous modern applications in recording, communication printing, display, etc., demand compact waveguiding lasers that can be tuned in the visible spectral range. Such a system was proposed by the present inventors about a decade ago, theoretically suggesting an introduction of laser dyes into (1983); R. Reisfeld, Chem. Phys. Lett., Vol. 114, p. 306 (1985); and R. Reisfeld and C. K. Jorgensen, Struct. Bonding, Vol. 77, p. 207 (1992)!.
Since then, tunable lasers based on bulk glasses prepared by the sol-gel method have been reported (see, e.g., R. Reisfeld, D. Brusilovsky, M. Eyal, E. Miron, Z. Burshtein and J. Ivri, Chem. Phys. Letters, Vol. 160, p. 43 (1989); R. Gvishi and R. Reisfeld, J. de Physique, Colloques C7, Supplement au J. de Physique III, Vol. 1, p. 199 (1991); Hsin-Tah Liu, E. Bescher, J. D. Mackenzie, Hongxing Dai, O. M. Stafsudd, Journal of Material Science, Vol. 27, p. 5523 (1992); B. Dunn, J. Zink, Journal Mater. Chem., Vol. 1, No. 6, pp. 903-913 (1991); M. A. Meneses-Nava, T. A. S. King, Journal Mod. Opt., Vol. 39, No. 7, pp. 1517-1523 (1992); and R. Reisfeld, "The State of Art of Tunable Lasers in the Visible," a lecture presented at the French-Israeli workshop, Lyon, December 5-8, 1993; however, despite repeated attempts, heretofore the present inventors have not been able to produce a stable waveguided tunable dye laser film.
Thus, e.g., following the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,092, which r
REFERENCES:
patent: 4878226 (1989-10-01), Kuder et al.
Chemical Physics Letters, 1 Oct. 1993, Netherlands, vol. 213, Nr. 1-2, pp. 7-53 ISSN 0009-2614 Shamrakov D et al `Superradiant film laser operation in red perylimide dye doped silica-polymethylmethacrylate composite` cited in application see p. 49, paragraph 2.
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Applied Optics, 1 Sep. 1993, USA, vol. 32, Nr. 25, pp. 4916-4921, ISSN 0003-6935. Holmes A S et al. `Fabrication of buried channel waveguides on silicon substrates using spin-on glass` see abstract.
Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Nov. 1988, Netherlands, vol. 105, Nr. 3, pp. 198-200, ISSN 0022-3093 Kobayashi Y et al. `A transparent alumina film doped with laser dye and its emission properties` see abstract.
Properties and Characteristics of Optical Glass, San Diego, CA, USA, 18-19 Aug. 1988, ISSN 0277-786X, Proceedings of the SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering, 1989, USA pp. 135-142. Capozzi C A et al `Preparation and characterization of PMMA modified SiO/sub 2/ host . . . ` see document.
Chemical Physcis Letters, 30 Apr. 1993, Netherlands, vol. 206, Nr. 1-4, pp. 15-20, ISSN 0009-2614. Lebeau B et al. `Optical properties of a near-infrared dye laser incorporated inside sol-gel matrices` see whole document.
Applied Optics, 20 Jun. 1990, USA, vol. 29, Nr. 18, pp. 2729-2733, ISSN 0003-6935. Knobbe E T et al. `Laser behavior and photostability characteristic of organic dye doped silicate gel materials` see whole document.
Applied Physics Letters, 13 Dec. 1993, USA, vol. 63, Nr.24, pp. 3256-3258, ISSN 0003-6951. Sorek Y et al `Sol-gel glass waveguides prepared at low temperature` see whole document.
Reisfeld Renata
Shamrakov Dimitri
Sorek Yoram
Cooper Iver P.
Nold Charles
Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of
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