Kouji Kuwabara

Performance of a flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG laser with short-wavelength-cut tubes

Performance of a flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG laser with optically coated short-wavelength-cut tubes has been investigated. The laser rod or the flash lamps were covered with the coated tubes, which reflect radiation of wavelengths less than 0.5 µm. The experimental results show a 10% increase in the polarized laser output power and a 40% reduction of the rod-heating power when coated tubes are used for either the flash lamps or the rod.

20-kW fast-axial-flow CO 2 laser with high-frequency turboblowers

A 20-kW fast-axial-flow CO2 laser has been realized by using high-frequency turboblowers developed especially for laser operation. Each of the two high-frequency turboblowers utilized in the equipment has a revolution of 8,800 rpm, a gas flow rate of 8.4 m3/s, and an adiabatic head of 4,000 kgf·m/kg. The equipment has six discharge-tubes connected optically in series, and each is 134 mm in diameter, and 1,000 mm in length. Stable glow discharge is established in the large-volume region without any preionization. The laser output power of 20 kW is extracted from an unstable resonator. The output beam through a zinc-selenide window has a diameter of 90 mn.

Nd:YAG laser marker utilizing a liquid-crystal device mask

The paper describes performance of a novel Nd:YAG laser marker equipped with a liquid crystal device(LCD) mask instead of the conventional metal stencil. The laser marker is characterized by its capability of changing mask patterns, such as alphanumeric characters, freely using a microprocessor terminal within a short period.