Process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube

Claim 2

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser comprising the steps of: providing a laser tube having a cathode, Brewster windows and and a metal reservoir intermediate its ends; filling the metal reservoir with metal; evacuating said tube; baking said tube at a temperature of approximately 100°C for at least 10 hours; backfilling said tube with argon; melting the metal in the metal reservoir; backfilling said tube with helium gas; sealing said tube; mounting said tube in a resonator to form a laser; and aligning said tube in said resonator for lasing operation.

Claim 3

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser as recited in claim 1 wherein during the argon backfilling step the tube is filled to a pressure of at least 12 Torr.

Claim 4

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube comprising the steps of: providing a laser tube having a metal reservoir intermediate its ends; filling the metal reservoir with metal; evacuating the tube; baking said tube at a temperature of approximately 100°C for at least 10 hours; backfilling said tube with argon; melting the metal in the metal reservoir; backfilling said tube with helium gas; sealing said tube; mounting said tube in a resonator to form a laser; aligning said tube in said resonator for lasing operation; and operating said laser within one hour after sealing said tube for a period of 20 to 40 hours.

Claim 5

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube comprising the steps of: providing a laser tube having a metal reservoir intermediate its ends; filling the metal reservoir with metal; evacuating the tube; baking said tube at a temperature of approximately 100°C for at least 10 hours; backfilling said tube with argon; melting the metal in the metal reservoir; backfilling said tube with helium gas; sealing said tube; mounting said tube in a resonator to form a laser; aligning said tube in said resonator for lasing operation; and operating said laser within one hour after sealing said tube for a period of 20 to 40 hours.

Claim 6

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 3 wherein said argon is at a pressure of 12 Torr after said argon backfilling.

Claim 7

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 3 wherein said helium 3 gas is at a pressure of approximately 5.5 Torr after said helium 3 backfilling.

Claim 8

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube comprising the steps of: providing a laser tube having a cathode and a metal reservoir intermediate its ends; filling the metal reservoir with metal; cleaning said tube; attaching said tube to a vacuum system; evacuating said tube; baking said tube at a temperature of approximately 100°C for at least 10 hours; evacuating said tube; backfilling said tube with oxygen; heating the cathode to form an active cathode surface; evacuating said tube; backfilling said tube with a mixture of neon and helium 4 ; striking a discharge in said tube to remove water vapor; evacuating said tube; backfilling said tube with argon; melting the metal in the metal reservoir of said tube; evacuating said tube; backfilling said tube with helium 4 ; striking a discharge in said tube; evacuating said tube; backfilling said tube with helium 3 ; sealing said tube to remove said tube from said vacuum system; mounting said tube in a resonator to form a laser; aligning said tube in said resonator for lasing operation; and operating said laser within 1 hour after sealing said tube for 20 to 40 hours.

Claim 9

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube comprising the steps of: providing a laser tube having a cathode and a metal reservoir intermediate its ends; filling the metal reservoir with metal; cleaning said tube; attaching said tube to a vacuum system; evacuating said tube; baking said tube at a temperature of approximately 100°C for at least 10 hours; evacuating said tube; backfilling said tube with oxygen; heating the cathode to form an active cathode surface; evacuating said tube; backfilling said tube with a mixture of neon and helium 4 ; striking a discharge in said tube to remove water vapor; evacuating said tube; backfilling said tube with argon; melting the metal in the metal reservoir of said tube; evacuating said tube; backfilling said tube with helium 4 ; striking a discharge in said tube; evacuating said tube; backfilling said tube with helium 3 ; sealing said tube to remove said tube from said vacuum system; mounting said tube in a resonator to form a laser; aligning said tube in said resonator for lasing operation; and operating said laser within 1 hour after sealing said tube for 20 to 40 hours.

Claim 10

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 6 wherein said tube includes Brewster windows, said process further including the step of raising shields within said tube to protect said Brewster windows prior to said baking step.

Claim 11

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 7 and further comprising the step of: lowering said shields after said sealing of said tube.

Claim 12

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 6 wherein said tube includes Brewster windows, the metal reservoir includes a filler tube and said filling step includes depositing metal pellets through the filler tube; and thereafter further comprising the steps of: providing shields inside said tube to protect the Brewster windows; and sealing said filler tube near its top.

Claim 13

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 6 wherein all said evacuation steps evacuate said tube to a pressure of less than 5 × 10.sup. -5 Torr.

Claim 14

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 6 wherein during the oxygen backfilling step the tube is filled to a pressure of 0.5 Torr of oxygen.

Claim 15

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 6 wherein said cathode is comprised of barium strontium carbonate and the cathode is heated sufficient to reduce said barium strontium carbonate to barium oxide and strontium oxide.

Claim 16

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 6 wherein a mixture of 0.3 Torr of neon, and 2.7 Torr of helium 4 is used in the neon/helium backfilling step.

Claim 17

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 6 wherein during the argon backfilling step the tube is filled to a pressure of 12 Torr of argon.

Claim 18

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 6 wherein during the helium backfilling step the tube is filled to a pressure of 6 Torr of helium 4 .

Claim 19

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 6 wherein the said helium 4 discharge is maintained for approximately 3 hours.

Claim 20

A process for manufacturing a helium metal vapor laser tube as recited in claim 6 wherein said step of sealing said tube comprises the sealing of a vacuum port as close to the main body of said tube as possible.