Laser-driven light source with electrodeless ignition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12176200-B2
Application number	US-202418663177-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2024
Priority date	May 24, 2021
Publication date	Dec 24, 2024
Grant date	Dec 24, 2024

Abstract

An electrodeless laser-driven light source includes a laser that generates a CW sustaining light. A pump laser generates pump light. A Q-switched laser crystal receives the pump light generated by the pump laser and generates pulsed laser light at an output in response to the generated pump light. A first optical element projects the pulsed laser light along a first axis to a breakdown region in a gas-filled bulb comprising an ionizing gas. A second optical element projects the CW sustaining light along a second axis to a CW plasma region in the gas-filled bulb comprising the ionizing gas. A detector detects plasma light generated by a CW plasma and generates a detection signal at an output. A controller generates control signals that control the pump light to the Q-switched laser crystal so as to extinguish the pulsed laser light within a time delay after the detection signal exceeds a threshold level.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrodeless laser-driven light source comprising:
a) a gas filled bulb;
b) a source that generates a continuous wave (CW) sustaining light that propagates to the gas filled bulb;
c) a Q-switched laser crystal;
d) a pump source that generates pump light that irradiates the Q-switched laser crystal, wherein the Q-switched laser crystal generates pulsed light that propagates to the gas-filled bulb when irradiated, and the pulsed light generates a CW plasma in the gas-filled bulb that emits light;
e) a detector positioned to receive light emitted from the CW plasma in the gas-filled bulb, the detector generating a detection signal in response to the received light; and
f) a controller that is connected to the detector and to the pump source, wherein the controller is configured to control the pump source so that the pump source extinguishes the pulsed laser light in response to the detection signal.

2. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the controller controls the pump source so that it extinguishes the pulsed laser light within a time delay after the detection signal exceeds a threshold level.

3. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 2 wherein the pump laser and the Q-switched laser crystal are configured so that a period between pulses in the pulsed laser light is greater than the time delay.

4. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 2 wherein the pump laser and the Q-switched laser crystal are configured so that a period between pulses in the pulsed laser light is less than the time delay.

5. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 2 wherein the controller is configured so that the time delay is less than one pulse period of the pulsed laser light.

6. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 2 wherein the detection signal generated by the detector represents a power of the plasma light and the threshold level is a desired ratio of the power of the plasma light to an operating power.

7. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 6 wherein the desired ratio is nominally 50%.

8. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 6 wherein the desired ratio is nominally 90%.

9. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 6 wherein the desired ratio falls within a range between 30% and 95%.

10. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the pump laser and the Q-switched laser crystal are configured so that a pulse repetition rate of the pulsed laser light is in a range of 1 kHz to 20 kHz.

11. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the pump laser and the Q-switched laser crystal are configured so that a pulse repetition rate of the pulsed laser light is less than or equal to 1 kHz.

12. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the pump laser and the Q-switched laser crystal are configured so that a pulse energy of the pulsed laser light is in a range of 50 μJoules to 500 μJoules.

13. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the pump laser and the Q-switched laser crystal are configured so that a pulse energy of the pulsed laser light is in a range of 500 μJoules to 5 mJoules.

14. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the pump laser and the Q-switched laser crystal are configured so that a pulse duration of the pulsed laser light is in a range of 0.1 ns to 10 ns.

15. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the laser source is configured so that a power of the CW sustaining light is in a range of 5 W to 50 W.

16. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the laser source is configured so that a power of the CW sustaining light is in a range of 5 W to 1500 W.

17. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the Q-switched laser crystal comprises a gain section and a saturable absorber section.

18. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the Q-switched laser crystal comprises a glass host.

19. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the Q-switched laser crystal comprises an yttrium aluminum garnet host.

20. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the Q-switched laser crystal comprises a spinel host.

21. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the Q-switched laser crystal comprises a chromium dopant.

22. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the Q-switched laser crystal comprises a cobalt dopant.

23. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the Q-switched laser crystal comprises a vanadium dopant.

24. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the Q-switched laser crystal comprises a narrow-band filter.

25. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 24 wherein the narrow-band filter reflects at least some of the plasma light.

26. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 24 wherein the narrow-band filter blocks wavelengths in the xenon spectrum.

27. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the Q-switched laser crystal comprises a coating on one surface.

28. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the gas-filled bulb comprises xenon gas.

29. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein the gas-filled bulb is formed in a spherical shape.

30. The electrodeless laser-driven light source of claim 1 wherein a pressure in the gas-filled bulb comprises a pressure in a range of 20 atm to 50 atm.

Assignees

• Hamamatsu Photonics Kk
• Energetiq Tech Inc

Inventors

• PARTLOW Matthew
• Smith Donald K
• Besen Matthew
• ASAI Akinori

Classifications

• H01J65/04

  Lamps in which a gas filling is excited to luminesce by an external electromagnetic field or by external corpuscular radiation, e.g. for indicating {plasma display panels} · CPC title

• H01J61/16

  having helium, argon, neon, krypton, or xenon as the principle constituent · CPC title

• H01S3/0621

  Coatings on the end-faces, e.g. input/output surfaces of the laser light · CPC title

• H01S3/0602

  Crystal lasers or glass lasers (H01S3/063 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01S3/1643

  YAG · CPC title