Abstract: A laser damage resistant optical component exposed to alkali vapor and intense (>1 kW/cm2) light is formed by making the outermost surface of the component from a specified metal oxide or metal fluoride whose metal boils at a temperature lower than the melting temperature of that metal's oxide or fluoride, such as BaO, CdO, CaO, MgO, SrO, ZnO, CdF2, MgF2 or SrF2. This allows the metal formed by the alkali's reduction of the metal compound to be vaporized and removed by the laser beam at a temperature that does not melt or deform the host compound or substrate. The alkali reduction of metal compounds, other than those listed above, leaves metals that are heated by the laser beam to a temperature above the melting point of the host compound and/or common substrates such as silica or alumina which can lead to their damage.

Abstract: A laser damage resistant optical component exposed to alkali vapor and intense (>1 kW/cm2) light is formed by making the outermost surface of the component from a specified metal oxide or metal fluoride whose metal boils at a temperature lower than the melting temperature of that metal's oxide or fluoride, such as BaO, CdO, CaO, MgO, SrO, ZnO, CdF2, MgF2 or SrF2. This allows the metal formed by the alkali's reduction of the metal compound to be vaporized and removed by the laser beam at a temperature that does not melt or deform the host compound or substrate. The alkali reduction of metal compounds, other than those listed above, leaves metals that are heated by the laser beam to a temperature above the melting point of the host compound and/or common substrates such as silica or alumina which can lead to their damage.

Abstract: A method of measuring the extinction of light in a coating including the steps of: directing a light beam to a substrate to be coated at an angle of incidence for which the beam undergoes nominal total internal reflection; depositing a coating on the substrate such that the light beam will be waveguided in the coating thus reducing internal reflection for a period of deposition time; measuring a reduction of the internal reflection during deposition; and calculating an extinction value of the light beam in the deposited layer corresponding to the measured drop in internal reflection.

Abstract: An optical device to reduce the thermally induced distortion and thermally induced depolarization of light transmitted through all or part of the device. The device includes a nominally transparent element having a negative dn/dT and a nominally transparent element having a zero or negative stress optic coefficient.

Abstract: A method of measuring the extinction of light in a coating including the steps of: directing a light beam to a substrate to be coated at an angle of incidence for which the beam undergoes nominal total internal reflection; depositing a coating on the substrate such that the light beam will be waveguided in the coating thus reducing internal reflection for a period of deposition time; measuring a reduction of the internal reflection during deposition; and calculating an extinction value of the light beam in the deposited layer corresponding to the measured drop in internal reflection.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for cleaning, detecting, and/or removing contamination from the surfaces of nominally transparent materials utilizing internal illumination of those surfaces with at least one electromagnetic radiation beam at an angle of incidence equal to or greater than the critical angle for total internal reflection. With appropriate selection of light sources and materials, the technique is effective at detecting and removing water, ice, particles, films and a variety of contaminants.

Abstract: An optical device to reduce the thermally induced distortion and thermally induced depolarization of light transmitted through all or part of the device. The device includes a nominally transparent element having a negative dn/dT and a nominally transparent element having a zero or negative stress optic coefficient.

Abstract: A beam steerer/scanner (50) includes a dynamically balanced bi-index rotating element (52). The element is comprised of a pair (52A, 52B) of transparent hemispheres which are of the same size and shape, are made from two materials of equal density, but which materials have different refractive indices (n). When the element is oscillated or rotated, an incident beam (L) impinging upon the element through a coupling lens (56) is deviated from its initial path and a deviated beam (T) is emitted from the element through another coupling lens (58). Because the two materials forming the hemispheres are of equal density, the resulting assembly may be oscillated or rotated at very high speeds without causing excessive vibration or stress. The steerer/scanner provides a high (>0.95) throughput and scanning rates as high as 1 kHz are possible. A two-dimensional scanning unit can also be constructed using the same components as used to produce a one-dimensional scanner.

Abstract: A beam steerer/scanner (50) includes a dynamically balanced bi-index rotating element (52). The element is comprised of a pair (52A, 52B) of transparent hemispheres which are of the same size and shape, are made from two materials of equal density, but which materials have different refractive indices (n). When the element is oscillated or rotated, an incident beam (L) impinging upon the element through a coupling lens (56) is deviated from its initial path and a deviated beam (T) is emitted from the element through another coupling lens (58). Because the two materials forming the hemispheres are of equal density, the resulting assembly may be oscillated or rotated at very high speeds without causing excessive vibration or stress. The steerer/scanner provides a high (>0.95) throughput and scanning rates as high as 1 kHz are possible. A two-dimensional scanning unit can also be constructed using the same components as used to produce a one-dimensional scanner.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for cleaning, detecting, and/or removing contamination from the surfaces of nominally transparent materials utilizing internal illumination of those surfaces with at least one electromagnetic radiation beam at an angle of incidence equal to or greater than the critical angle for total internal reflection. With appropriate selection of light sources and materials, the technique is effective at detecting and removing water, ice, particles, films and a variety of contaminants.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method, apparatus and lubricant composition for an adjustable wedge that utilizes the relative positioning of adjacently disposed convex and concave surfaces with equal spherical or cylindrical curvatures contacted together by a thin layer of lubricant.

Abstract: A laser pump includes a pump housing defining a pump cavity. The pump cavity includes reflecting walls having two or more sections, which in combination, encircle the laser element of the laser. The two or more sections have centers which are off-set from each other and which may be of different radii or height. The longitudinal axes of the segments are parallel to the center of the laser element, and the center of one of the segments may be coaxial with the axis of the laser element. Pump light enters the pump cavity through one or more openings in the housing into the cavity and is reflected many times by the reflecting surfaces of the cavity, passing many times in various directions through various parts of the laser element, resulting in efficient and uniform pumping of the laser element.

Abstract: A laser system utilizing a Stimulated Brillouin Scattering SBS cell to produce optical phase conjugate retroreflection for nonmonochromatic light from a laser system.

Abstract: The invention relates to a flash lamp pumped neodymium laser incorporating a fluorescent converter material which significantly improves the pumping efficiency of the neodymium laser. The fluorescent converter material is aluminum tungstate doped with trivalent chromium ions. The doped material combines broad absorption bands, short fluorescence decay times, and high quantum efficiency and emission in the region which is efficiently absorbed by neodymium.

Abstract: The invention relates to piezoelectric resonators formed from a block of a crystalline material. During finishing of such resonators, some of the faces thereof, the distances between which define the frequency, are subjected to abrasive operations which alter the surface state of the network, with surface cracks, dislocations and fragmentations. The invention provides a process for implanting light ions on these faces (He, Li, Be) after finishing, by creating therein a layer of vitreous protection silica from the crystallized quartz.

Abstract: A solid state laser including a plurality of plate like lasable elements in an array on a common optical axis. There are two different plate like elements, arranged in an alternating pattern, each containing a lasing ion which lases at a wavelength that is different from the wavelength of the other. The lasing ions and host materials are chosen so that there are two distinct spectral regions in which the lasing output of one plate element is not strongly absorbed by the other plate element.

Abstract: Hybrid laser structures are disclosed, the structures being axial gradient lasers that are a combination of solid-state lasable plate elements spaced along the optical axis of the laser and a cooling liquid for the plate elements, the liquid having lasing ions that lase at a wave length that is different from the wave length of the lasing ions of the plate elements. The solid-state plate elements can be made of a crystalline or glass host material doped with, for example, Cr.sup.3+ ions, and the cooling liquid whose stimulated emission is at a different wave length than that of the plate element can be, for instance, selenium oxychloride doped with Nd.sup.3+ ions.

Abstract: A solid state laser including a plurality of plate like lasable elements in an array on a common optical axis. There are two different plate like elements, arranged in an alternating pattern, each containing a lasing ion which lases at a wavelength that is different from the wavelength of the other. The lasing ions and host materials are chosen so that there are two distinct spectral regions in which the lasing output of one plate element is not strongly absorbed by the other plate element.