Laser amplifier, laser apparatus, and extreme ultraviolet light generating system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9685756-B2
Application number	US-201615040588-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2016
Priority date	Sep 5, 2013
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

There may be provided a laser amplifier including: a chamber containing a laser medium; a first window provided on the chamber, and configured to allow a laser light beam inputted from outside of the chamber to enter the chamber; an excitation unit configured to amplify, by exciting the laser medium, the laser light beam that has entered the chamber; a second window provided on the chamber, and configured to allow the laser light beam that has been amplified by the excitation unit to exit from the chamber to the outside; a mirror provided on a laser light path between the first window and the second window; and a wavelength selection film provided on one or more of the first window, the second window, and the mirror, and configured to suppress propagation of light beams of one or more suppression target wavelengths different from a desired wavelength.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laser amplifier, comprising:
a chamber containing a laser medium;
a first window provided on the chamber, and tilted to allow a laser light beam of a desired wavelength inputted from outside of the chamber to enter the chamber and to allow light beams of one or more suppression target wavelengths different from the desired wavelength to be off a light path of the laser light beam of the desired wavelength;
an excitation unit configured to amplify, by exciting the laser medium, the laser light beam that has entered the chamber;
a second window provided on the chamber, and tilted to allow the laser light beam that has been amplified by the excitation unit to exit from the chamber to the outside and to allow the light beams of the one or more suppression target wavelengths to be off the light path of the laser light beam of the desired wavelength;
a mirror provided on a laser light path between the first window and the second window; and
a wavelength selection film provided on one or more of the first window, the second window, and the mirror, and configured to suppress propagation of the light beams of the one or more suppression target wavelengths.

2. The laser amplifier according to claim 1 , wherein the laser medium that has been excited by the excitation unit is adapted to amplify a light beam of the desired wavelength as well as light beams of the suppression target wavelengths.

3. The laser amplifier according to claim 1 , wherein
the mirror includes a plurality of mirrors, and
the wavelength selection film is provided on one or more of the mirrors.

4. The laser amplifier according to claim 3 , wherein
the wavelength selection film is provided on each of two or more of the mirrors, and
two or more of the wavelength selective films provided on the two or more of the mirrors are different, in wavelength selection property, from one another.

5. The laser amplifier according to claim 1 , wherein the wavelength selection film is provided on the mirror, and exhibits higher reflectivity with respect to a light beam of the desired wavelength than with respect to the light beams of the suppression target wavelengths.

6. The laser amplifier according to claim 1 , wherein the wavelength selection film is provided on one or both of the first window and the second window, and exhibits higher transmittance with respect to a light beam of the desired wavelength than with respect to the light beams of the suppression target wavelengths.

7. A laser apparatus, comprising:
a master oscillator configured to output a laser light beam of a desired wavelength; and
one or more laser amplifiers each configured to amplify the laser light beam derived from the master oscillator, one or more of the laser amplifiers each including:
a chamber containing a laser medium;
a first window provided on the chamber, and tilted to allow the laser light beam of the desired wavelength inputted from outside of the chamber to enter the chamber and to allow light beams of one or more suppression target wavelengths different from the desired wavelength to be off a light path of the laser light beam of the desired wavelength;
an excitation unit configured to amplify, by exciting the laser medium, the laser light beam that has entered the chamber;
a second window provided on the chamber, and tilted to allow the laser light beam that has been amplified by the excitation unit to exit from the chamber to the outside and to allow the light beams of the one or more suppression target wavelengths to be off the light path of the laser light beam of the desired wavelength;
a mirror provided on a laser light path between the first window and the second window; and
a wavelength selection film provided on one or more of the first window, the second window, and the mirror, and configured to suppress propagation of the light beams of the one or more suppression target wavelengths.

8. An extreme ultraviolet light generating system, comprising:
a plasma chamber in which extreme ultraviolet light is to be generated; and
a laser apparatus configured to supply a pulsed laser light beam into the plasma chamber, the laser apparatus including:
a master oscillator configured to output a laser light beam of a desired wavelength as a seed of the pulsed laser light beam; and
one or more laser amplifiers each configured to amplify the laser light beam derived from the master oscillator, one or more of the laser amplifiers each including:
an amplification chamber containing a laser medium;
a first window provided on the amplification chamber, and tilted to allow the laser light beam of the desired wavelength inputted from outside of the amplification chamber to enter the amplification chamber and to allow light beams of one or more suppression target wavelengths different from the desired wavelength to be off a light path of the laser light beam of the desired wavelength;
an excitation unit configured to amplify, by exciting the laser medium, the laser light beam that has entered the amplification chamber;
a second window provided on the amplification chamber, and tilted to allow the laser light beam that has been amplified by the excitation unit to exit from the amplification chamber to the outside and to allow the light beams of the one or more suppression target wavelengths to be off the light path of the laser light beam of the desired wavelength;
a mirror provided on a laser light path between the first window and the second window; and
a wavelength selection film provided on one or more of the first window, the second window, and the mirror, and configured to suppress propagation of the light beams of the one or more suppression target wavelengths.

Assignees

• Gigaphoton Inc

Inventors

• Suganuma Takashi
• Hoshino Hideo

Classifications

• H05G2/0084

  Control of the laser beam · CPC title

• H05G2/0086

  Optical arrangements for conveying the laser beam to the plasma generation location · CPC title

• H01S3/081

  comprising three or more reflectors · CPC title

• H01S3/08095

  Zig-zag travelling beam through the active medium · CPC title

• H01S3/0078

  Frequency filtering · CPC title