The invention provides a compact, combined stretcher-compressor assembly which utilizes a single grating element. The single grating element is preferably a holographic transmission grating element. The grating element has first and second surfaces which are opposed major surfaces with a thickness between the surfaces. The grating pattern is patterned in or on the grating element. The grating element is arranged in the assembly to receive a beam for stretching laser pulses in a stretcher beam pa...

A line narrowing system in which a polarizing beam splitter, a polarization rotator and a reflecting optic are configured to cause light in an expanded beam from a laser gain medium to illuminate a grating at least twice in each pass through the line narrowing system before returning to the gain medium for further amplification. In a preferred embodiment, the grating is an echelle grating arranged in a Littrow configuration.

In this semiconductor laser device, a polarization hologram transmits an outgoing beam directed from a semiconductor laser chip to an optical disk as a forward beam without diffracting the beam, and diffracts a backward beam of the laser beam, which is a return beam of the forward beam that has been reflected by the optical disk, so that the backward beam is deflected from a direction directed toward the semiconductor laser chip part and further directed toward first, second photoreception parts...

Propellant charge component for use with a projectile (4) for muzzle-loaded weapons. The propellant charge component (5) and the projectile (4) are each capable of being loaded into the weapon separately. The propellant charge component (5) is provided with a piston (14) which is capable under the effect of gases from the propellant charge component (5) of being separated from the propellant charge component (5) in the direction of firing of the projectile until it comes up against a stop organ ...

This invention provides an improved saturable absorber for mode-locking tunable, homogeneously broadened lasers operating in the spectral region between the infrared and the ultraviolet.

A stimulated Brillouin scattered (SBS) tuned laser which utilizes stimula Brillouin scattering wherein the output laser beam produces the acoustic wave that scatters the laser beam to thereby provide the scanning which impacts on a retoreflective grating to provide a change in the frequency of the output laser beam.

An apparatus for and a method of providing an amplified, directable laser light beam is disclosed. The apparatus includes two optical cavities sharing a common mirror. The first cavity is resonant and contains a laser rod intermediate a high reflectivity reflecting mirror of 100% reflectivity and a low reflectivity transmitting mirror of 10-90% reflectivity. The second cavity is antiresonant and contains a Faraday effect diffraction grating intermediate the low reflectivity mirror and a 100% ref...

Apparatus and methods for altering one or more spectral, spatial, or temporal characteristics of a light-emitting device are disclosed. Generally, such apparatus may include a volume Bragg grating (VBG) element that receives input light generated by a light-emitting device, conditions one or more characteristics of the input light, and causes the light-emitting device to generate light having the one or more characteristics of the conditioned light.

A helium purge for a grating based line narrowing device for minimizing thermal distortions in line narrowed lasers producing high energy laser beams at high repetition rates. Applicants have shown substantial improvement in performance with the use of helium purge as compared to prior art nitrogen purges. In preferred embodiments a stream of helium gas is directed across the face of the grating. In other embodiments the purge gas pressure is reduced to reduce the optical effects of the hot gas ...

Adjustment of a tunable external-cavity laser is simplified by incorporating a mount that includes a base, a main body, a reflecting surface, a diffracting surface and a hinge coupling the main body to the base. The laser additionally includes a light source, a converging lens located to receive light from the light source, a tuning mirror and a pivoting arm on which the tuning mirror is mounted. The main body is bounded in part by two plane, external surfaces orthogonal to a common reference pl...