Face-pumped liquid laser device

Claim 1

A face-pumped liquid laser device comprising means for containing an active liquid laser medium and for forming a plurality of thin sheets of the actiVe liquid laser medium in a zig zag pattern consisting of alternate sheets of the liquid laser medium being parallel and adjacent sheets being angularly disposed relative to each other to form equal angles therebetween, each thin sheet of liquid laser medium having two opposing major surfaces defined by the length and breadth thereof, pumping radiation means positioned adjacent at least one of the major surfaces of each liquid laser medium sheet and in optical communication therewith for optically pumping the liquid laser medium through said at least one major surfaces and thereby exciting the active liquid laser medium sufficiently to establish a population inversion in a particular laser liquid, and means for stimulating the emission of a beam of coherent electromagnetic radiation from said active liquid laser medium sheets through said major surfaces, said laser liquid containing and sheet forming means comprising: a plurality of serially positioned, closely spaced apart refracting prisms having adjacent planar first and second major surfaces contiguous with the two major surfaces of the sheets of liquid laser medium formed therebetween, said refracting prisms being substantially totally transparent to the pumping and coherent radiations, said pumping radiation means positioned adjacent planar third major surfaces of at least alternate said refracting prisms wherein the third major surfaces of the intermediate positioned prisms subtend the first and second major surfaces, the third surfaces of alternate prisms being coplanar, the pumping radiation incident on the third surfaces of said prisms being refracted and reflected through the prisms to produce substantially uniform pumping along the major surfaces of the laser liquid sheets, the beam of emitted coherent radiation being substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of the zig-zag pattern which passes through the centers of the laser liquid sheets, said laser liquid containing and sheet forming means further comprising: first and second planar parallel side members each contiguous with alternate said third surfaces of said prisms for confining each liquid sheet along two narrow opposite sides of a corresponding adjacent prism spacing wherein the narrow sides define the sheet thickness, said side members retaining said prisms in the serial relationship and being substantially totally transparent to the pumping radiation, said side members extending beyond the third surfaces of said prisms in a first direction for retaining an input channel member which is supplied with the laser liquid, said side members extending in a second direction opposite to the first for retaining an output channel member, said input and output channel members retained in liquid-tight communication along two other narrow opposite sides of the adjacent prism spacings for respectively supplying the laser liquid to the spacings and exiting it therefrom in a direction transverse to the axis of the laser beam, first and second planar end members each contiguous with an outer surface of a corresponding one of the extreme positioned prisms for further retaining said prisms in the serial relationship and being substantially totally transparent to the coherent radiation, the aperture of said laser device being determined by the length and breadth of the major surfaces of the sheets of liquid laser medium and the angular disposition of adjacent sheets so that a large aperture device may be obtained.