Abstract: A phase-locked ridge waveguide gas laser includes a body that circumferentially bounds an internal space extending along a central plane and containing a gaseous lasing medium. The gaseous medium is excited at radio frequency with attendant light emission from the gaseous medium. Mirrors are so positioned relative to the body as to provide lasing of the light emission. Respective ridges partition the internal space into a plurality of cylindrical laser resonator cavities each sustaining a guided mode of the lasing light emission. Each of the cavities extends longitudinally of the body and is spaced from an adjacent cavity by a predetermined distance in a width direction of the internal space. The ridges are substantially cusp-shaped and extend into the internal space along a height dimension in respective aligned pairs.

Abstract: A phase-locked ridge waveguide gas laser includes a body having two major and two minor limiting surfaces together circumferentially bounding an internal space within the body, which contains a gaseous lasing medium. The gaseous medium is excited at radio frequency with attendant light emission from the gaseous medium. Mirrors are so positioned relative to the body as to provide lasing of the light emission. Respective ridges partition the internal space into at least three laser resonator cavities each sustaining a guided mode of the lasing light emission. The ridges extend in an alternative fashion from one and the other of the major surfaces of the body into the internal space and terminate short of the respectively other of the major surfaces to provide respective gaps. Each of these gaps connects two adjacent ones of the laser resonator cavities for phase-locking the guided modes in such cavities.

Abstract: A compact distributed inductance RF-excited waveguide gas laser arrangement includes a housing which bounds an internal space, and a waveguide laser stack located in the internal space. The stack includes, in succession, a first electrode which may be constituted by a portion of the housing, a waveguide body bounding at least one laser cavity, a second electrode, a spacer body, and a plurality of flat inductor coils that extend along a major surface of the spacer body that faces away from the second electrode and are distributed along the length of the laser cavity. Each of the inductor coils has a first end electrically connected with the first electrode and a second end electrically connected with the second electrode so that, when alternating electric current at radio frequency is applied to one of the electrodes, the inductance of each of the inductor coils is arranged electrically in parallel with the capacitance formed between the first and second electrodes and transversely of the laser cavity.

Abstract: An improved RF-waveguide laser has a waveguide with an asymmetric cross section that provides improved suppression of high order modes and increased efficiency.