CN105322425A - laser device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a laser device that maintains device performance, reliability, and safety while achieving simplification and low cost with respect to a trigger mechanism and a cooling structure of a flash lamp used for a laser excitation light source. The YAG laser processing device comprises a chamber (10), a laser oscillation part (12), a laser excitation part (14), a closed-loop circuit (15), a trigger electrode (16), a trigger circuit (18) and a control part (20). The trigger electrode (16) is physically arranged around the outside of the chamber, is electrically connected to the output terminal of the trigger circuit, and forms a capacitor (C _A ) between the chamber and the chamber. A high-voltage trigger pulse (TP) is applied to the trigger electrode by the trigger circuit, and the voltage of the trigger pulse is applied to the flashlight (28) through the electrode, the chamber and the elliptical mirror barrel (25), and the flashlight turns from the standby state to the lighting state Transfer, that is, start the lamp to light up.

Description

laser device

technical field

The present invention relates to a laser device for irradiating excitation light from a flash lamp onto a solid laser medium to oscillate laser light.

Background technique

Generally speaking, a solid laser rod is used as a laser medium, and a flash lamp is used as a laser device (such as a YAG laser) as an excitation light source. Irradiate the side or peripheral surface of the laser rod, and resonantly amplify the beam of specified wavelength emitted from both ends of the laser rod excited or pumped by the energy of the excitation light between the total reflection mirror and the partial reflection (output) mirror, Laser light is extracted from the output mirror.

In this type of flashlight, a pair of electrodes (that is, an anode and a cathode) are arranged facing each other at both ends of a straight glass tube, and a rare gas (generally xenon gas) as a light source is enclosed. And, when starting the lighting of the lamp tube, a high-voltage pulse is applied between the anode and the cathode of the lamp tube through a high-voltage pulse generating circuit composed of a pulse transformer, or a trigger electrode arranged in or around the outside of the lamp tube is applied. A high voltage pulse that destroys the insulation of the gas enclosed in the glass tube. In this way, when the insulation of the gas in the glass tube is broken, a driving current is supplied from the main lighting circuit to the lamp tube, and the discharge or light emission of the gas continues. In order to start the lighting of the lamp smoothly, it is also possible to effectively use a closed loop circuit that flows a weak pre-discharge current to the lamp in standby (laser is not oscillating).

Among the various methods for starting strobe lighting as described above, the method of applying a pulse voltage between the anode and the cathode requires a large-scale and expensive high-voltage pulse because the voltage value of the voltage pulse required for gas insulation breakdown is very high. The generating circuit, the main lighting circuit and the closed loop circuit also need to be able to withstand high voltage. In addition, the arc column in the flash lamp becomes longer and the air pressure becomes higher, which may deteriorate the luminous performance of the lamp tube. Therefore, it is necessary to frequently adjust the length of the arc column, air pressure, trigger voltage, etc.

On the other hand, an internal trigger method in which a trigger electrode is provided in the lamp tube and a high-voltage pulse is applied to the trigger electrode also requires an expensive flash lamp.

In this regard, an external trigger method in which a trigger electrode is arranged around the outside of the lamp tube and a high-voltage pulse is applied to the trigger electrode, because the flash lamp and the circuit around the lamp tube (high-voltage pulse generating circuit, main lighting circuit, etc.) cost and are therefore widely used.

prior art literature

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-183596

Generally, in order to improve the laser oscillation efficiency of the above-mentioned solid-state laser device, cooling water is supplied to the chamber, and the flash lamp and the laser rod are exposed to the cooling water in the chamber. In this case, in the conventional external trigger method, since the trigger electrode is also exposed to cooling water in the chamber, in order to prevent leakage from the trigger electrode, pure water with high insulation is used for the cooling water, and resin is used for the material of the chamber. insulator. Therefore, the cooling device for supplying cooling water to the chamber needs to include an expensive ion exchange resin in order to obtain pure water from tap water or industrial water. In addition, the resin chamber stably holds the flash lamp and the laser rod, and the processing for preventing the leakage of cooling water is very difficult, and the manufacturing cost is higher than that of the metal chamber.

Contents of the invention

The present invention solves the problems of the prior art as described above, and provides a mechanism for maintaining device performance, reliability, Safe and simple and low-cost laser device.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the laser device of the present invention has: the optical resonance part that has solid-state laser medium; There is the exciter part that is used to irradiate the strobe lamp of the external trigger method of excitation light to above-mentioned solid-state laser medium; Make above-mentioned solid-state laser medium and above-mentioned A conductive chamber arranged opposite to the light lamp and accommodated; it is arranged outside the chamber, and a trigger electrode of a capacitor is formed between the chamber and the chamber; a high-voltage pulse is applied to the trigger electrode in order to start lighting the flash lamp trigger circuit.

In the above device structure, the high voltage pulse output from the trigger circuit is applied to the flash lamp from the outside of the tube wall through the trigger electrode and the chamber. Here, the trigger electrode and the chamber are combined via a capacitor capacity. When a high voltage pulse is applied to the flash lamp from the outside of the tube wall, the insulation of the xenon near the cathode electrode inside the tube is destroyed, and the gas molecules are ionized. In this way, the electrons generated by the ionization of gas molecules move toward the anode electrode and collide with the gas molecules to gradually expand the ionization or excitation, an electron avalanche phenomenon occurs and discharge begins, and the flash lamp lights up. The excitation light emitted by the flash lamp excites the solid-state laser medium, and the beam of a certain wavelength output from the excited solid-state laser medium in the direction of the specified optical axis is repeatedly reflected and amplified in the optical resonator as laser output.

In a suitable variant of the invention, a dielectric is sandwiched between the trigger electrode and the chamber. Preferably, the trigger electrode and the dielectric are inserted between the upper surface of the insulating base for placing and supporting the chamber and the bottom surface of the chamber. By sandwiching the dielectric between the trigger electrode and the chamber in this way, the electrostatic capacity of the above-mentioned capacitor is significantly increased, and the voltage drop of the high-voltage pulse is reduced (that is, the voltage applied to the flash lamp part from the outside is increased), which can Improve discharge performance.

In another suitable aspect, the trigger electrode has a planar plate or sheet form, and has an area of 1/2 or more of the lower surface of the chamber. In addition, the dielectric has the form of a planar plate, sheet, or film, and has an area of 1/2 or more of the lower surface of the chamber.

In another suitable embodiment, the solid medium and the flash lamp are exposed to cooling water within the chamber. In the present invention, no trigger electrode is provided in the chamber in which the solid-state laser medium and the flash lamp are exposed to cooling water, and since the flash lamp can be turned on by an external trigger method, leakage in the chamber can be eliminated. Accordingly, tap water or industrial water that does not pass through the ion exchange resin can be used as cooling water.

In another suitable solution, the trigger electrode is enclosed in a dielectric. According to this configuration, even if cooling water overflows around the chamber during maintenance or the like, the trigger electrode is protected by cooling, and electric leakage around the trigger electrode can be prevented.

The effects of the present invention are as follows.

According to the laser device of the present invention, by having the structure as described above, the device performance, reliability and safety can be maintained with respect to the structure around the laser oscillator, especially the trigger mechanism and cooling mechanism for the light lamp used for the laser excitation light source. And realize simplification and low cost.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a YAG laser processing apparatus in one embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a partially cutaway longitudinal sectional view from the front showing the structure of important parts (around the chamber) in the above-mentioned YAG laser processing apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the structure of important parts (around the chamber) in the above-mentioned YAG laser processing apparatus viewed from the side.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a modified example of the structure around the chamber in the embodiment.

In the figure: 10—chamber, 10U—upper chamber part, 10L—lower chamber part, 12—laser oscillation part, 14—laser excitation part, 16—trigger electrode, 17—dielectric, 18—trigger circuit, 20— Control section, 22—YAG rod (laser rod), 24—total reflection mirror, 25—elliptical mirror tube, 25U—upper semi-elliptical mirror tube part, 25L—lower semi-elliptic mirror tube part, 26—partial reflection ( Output) mirror, 28—flash lamp, 30—main lighting circuit (laser power supply circuit), 32—cooling device, 50—base.

detailed description

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Overall structure of the device]

The overall structure of the YAG laser processing apparatus in one Embodiment of this invention is shown in FIG. The YAG laser processing device includes a chamber 10, a laser oscillator 12, a laser excitation unit 14, a closed-loop circuit 15, a trigger electrode 16, a trigger circuit 18, and a control unit 20 as main components, and vibrates at a single or predetermined repetition frequency. It is configured to output pulsed laser light LB for laser processing.

The laser oscillation unit 12 includes a YAG rod 22 , a total reflection mirror 24 and a partial reflection (output) mirror 26 , which are a pair of reflection mirrors arranged opposite to each other in the rod axial direction with the YAG rod 22 interposed therebetween. Here, the total reflection mirror 24 and the output reflection mirror 26 constitute an optical resonator. The laser excitation unit 14 includes a strobe lamp 28 for irradiating excitation light to the YAG rod 22 , and a main lighting circuit or a laser power supply circuit 30 for supplying a driving current for lighting or light emission to the strobe lamp 28 .

The chamber 10 is configured as a decomposable and sealable container made of a conductor, and accommodates the YAG rod 22 of the laser oscillation unit 12 and the flash lamp 28 of the laser excitation unit 14 in parallel. In this embodiment, a conductor such as a copper elliptical mirror tube 25 is provided in the chamber 10 to surround the YAG rod 22 and the flash lamp 28 and to reflect light (excitation light) emitted from the flash lamp 28 with its inner wall. In this case, the YAG rod 22 and the strobe lamp 28 are respectively arranged on a pair of elliptical focal axes in the elliptical mirror barrel 25 . The elliptical mirror barrel 25 is preferably close to the chamber 10, and more preferably connected or combined physically and electrically. By connecting or combining such an elliptical mirror barrel 25 with the chamber 10, since the distance between the charged part and the lamp is shortened, light emission of the lamp becomes easy. In the chamber 10, cooling water at a certain temperature is circulated from the cooling device 32 through the pipe 34, and the YAG rod 22 and the flash lamp 28 are placed in the cooling water in the chamber 10. In this embodiment, the cooling device 32 does not include an ion exchange resin, and tap water or industrial water is used as cooling water.

The main lighting circuit 30 includes a capacitor 36 that collects electric power for driving the strobe 28 to turn on, a charging circuit 40 that converts commercial current from a single-phase AC power supply 38 into direct current and charges the capacitor 36 to a predetermined voltage, for example, A switching element such as a transistor 42 connected between the capacitor 36 and the flash lamp 28 , and a drive circuit 44 that drives the transistor 42 on and off.

When the flash lamp 28 receives the supply of the lamp drive current I _R of the pulse waveform from the main lighting circuit 30 and pulses the light, the energy of the light beam emitted by the flash lamp 28 excites the YAG rod 22, and the YAG rod 22 is output from both ends of the YAG rod 22 in the axial direction. The light beam with a certain wavelength is repeatedly reflected and amplified between the optical resonator mirrors 24 and 26, and then leaves the output mirror 26 as pulsed laser light LB. The pulsed laser light LB detached from the output mirror 26 is sent to a laser processing unit (not shown) through an appropriate laser transmission system (not shown), and irradiates a workpiece (not shown) there.

The closed-loop circuit 15 is configured to supply a closed-loop current I _S for pre-discharge to the flash lamp 28 while the pulse laser LB is not oscillating and outputting while the power supply is connected to the device.

The trigger electrode 16 is physically arranged near the outside of the chamber 10 , is electrically connected to the output terminal of the trigger circuit 18 , and forms _a capacitor CA with the chamber 10 . When the trigger pulse TP of high voltage was applied to the trigger electrode 16 from the trigger circuit 18, the voltage of the trigger pulse TP was applied to the flash lamp 28 through the trigger electrode 16, the chamber 10 and the elliptical mirror barrel 25, and the flash lamp 28 was changed from the previous standby state to the flash lamp 28. The lighting state transitions (that is, lighting starts). The trigger circuit 18 has a booster circuit such as a pulse transformer, and is configured to output a trigger pulse TP having a high voltage with a peak value of 10 kV or higher.

In order to stably and reliably turn on the strobe lamp 28 using such an external trigger method, it is preferable to make the capacitance of the capacitor _CA formed between the trigger electrode 16 and the chamber 10 as large as possible. In this embodiment, as will be described later, by making the opposing area of the trigger electrode 16 and the chamber 10 as large as possible within a range that does not hinder disassembly, assembly, and maintainability around the laser oscillator or the chamber 10, In addition, a dielectric 17 is inserted between the two (10, 16) to make the capacitance of the capacitor _CA as large as possible.

The main control unit 20 includes a CPU (microcomputer), and according to various programs (software) stored in the program memory, the actions of the various parts of the control device, especially the closed loop circuit 15, the trigger circuit 18, the main discharge circuit 30 (charging circuit 40) , drive circuit 44), cooling device 32, etc., and the overall sequence of the device, users (operators, maintenance personnel, etc.) and parameters (set value , monitor parameters, etc.).

[Structure around the chamber of the embodiment]

Hereinafter, the structure of the main part in this YAG laser processing apparatus, especially the structure around the chamber 10 is demonstrated with reference to FIG.2 and FIG.3. FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway longitudinal sectional view of the surroundings of the chamber 10 viewed from the front, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the surroundings of the chamber 10 viewed from the side.

The chamber 10 is composed of a lower chamber member 10L with an upper opening fixed on a base (pedestal) 50 made of a thick plate-shaped insulator with a plurality of bolts 52 , and a cover is detachably attached to the lower chamber member 10L. The upper chamber part 10U of the lower surface opening is constituted. In this embodiment, the lower chamber member 10L and the upper chamber member 10U are made of stainless steel as a conductor, and as shown in FIG. 56 Liquid-tight and resolvably bonded.

Also, the lower chamber member 10L and the upper chamber member 10U can be made of conductors other than stainless steel, such as metals such as aluminum, copper, and brass. Alternatively, it can also be produced by performing metal plating on the surface of the resin.

In FIG. 3 , the lower semi-elliptical mirror barrel member 25L is fixed inside the lower chamber member 10L by a U-shaped lower holding member 58L, and the YAG rod 22 is attached inside the lower semi-elliptical mirror barrel member 25L. On the other hand, the upper semi-elliptical mirror barrel member 25U is fixed inside the upper chamber member 10U by a U-shaped upper holding member 58U, and the flasher 28 is attached to a predetermined position inside the upper semi-elliptical mirror barrel member 25U. . The lower semi-elliptical mirror barrel part 25L and the upper semi-elliptical mirror barrel part 25U are integrated up and down to form an elliptical mirror barrel 25 with an elliptical cross-section. A YAG rod 22 and a strobe 28 are respectively disposed on a pair of elliptical focal axes extending in the longitudinal direction in the elliptical mirror barrel 25 .

The lower holding member 58L and the upper holding member 58U are made of a conductor such as stainless steel or aluminum. The lower elliptical mirror barrel member 25L and the upper elliptical mirror barrel member 25U are composed of a conductor plate such as a copper plate whose inner wall surface is plated with metal. In the configuration example shown in the figure, the lower elliptical mirror barrel member 25L and the upper elliptical mirror barrel member 25U are electrically connected to the lower chamber member 10L and the upper chamber member 10U through the lower holding member 58L and the upper holding member 58U, respectively. .

In the chamber 10 , the opening of the lower chamber member 10L and the opening of the upper chamber member 10U are separated by a glass plate 60 . The glass plate 60 separates the cooling water passage that flows around the inner YAG rod 22 of the lower chamber member 10L and the cooling water passage that flows around the inner flash lamp 28 of the upper chamber member 10U. In addition, even if the glass tube of the flash lamp 28 is damaged during replacement or maintenance of the light lamp 28, the fragments of the glass remain on the glass plate 60 and do not spread to the YAG rod 22 side.

The lower surface of the lower chamber member 10L is formed as a flat surface. Between the base 50 and the lower chamber part 10L, the trigger electrode 16 and the dielectric 17 are inserted overlappingly. The trigger electrode 16 is composed of a conductor in the form of a planar plate or a sheet, placed or pasted on the upper surface of the chassis 50, and connected to the trigger circuit 18 ( FIG. 1 ) through the conductor 65 penetrating the chassis 50 . The dielectric 17 is an arbitrary insulator in the form of a planar plate, sheet or film, and is made of, for example, PC (polycarbonate), placed or pasted on the upper surface of the trigger electrode 16, and closely attached to the lower surface of the lower chamber member 10L. . In addition, as the dielectric 17, PP (polypropylene), PE (polyethylene), PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) can also be used. , PPS (polyphenylene sulfide), silicone resin, epoxy resin, polyethylene resin, phenolic resin or polyimide such insulating materials.

In the illustrated configuration example, the capacitor _CA is formed between the trigger electrode 16 and the lower surface of the lower chamber member 10L via the dielectric 17 . In order to have _a sufficiently large electrostatic capacity on the capacitor CA, the area of the trigger electrode 16 and the dielectric 17 is preferably more than 1/2 of the area below the lower chamber part 10L. As shown in FIG. 3, the trigger electrode 16 and the dielectric 17 are preferably 17 is a structure protruding to the outside (side) of the lower chamber member 10L. And, if emphasis is put on the light-on performance of the flash lamp 28, the trigger electrode 16 is made of a flexible material such as a metal sheet, and the dielectric 17 is interposed therebetween. 10 overall covering structure. However, considering maintainability, safety, cost, etc., it is a practical and most preferable structure to make the trigger electrode 16 with a large area as close as possible to one surface of the chamber 10 as in the present embodiment.

In addition, the gap between the trigger electrode 16 and the lower chamber member 10L, that is, the thickness of the insulator 17 is preferably the smallest (thin) thickness as long as the physical strength does not cause obstacles, for example, a thickness of 2 mm is selected.

In FIG. 2, the flash lamp 28 is, for example, a xenon flash lamp. For example, a cylindrical cathode electrode 66 and an anode electrode 68 (shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, the illustration is omitted), and xenon gas is sealed. The cathode electrode 66 and the anode electrode 68 are electrically connected to insulated covered wires 70 and 72 extending axially outward from both ends of the flash lamp 28 . Tongues 74 , 76 constituting detachable connection terminals are attached to the ends of the insulation-covered electric wires 70 , 72 , respectively.

Both ends of the flash lamp 28 are held by O-rings 82 on lamp pressure plates 80 detachably attached to both ends of the upper chamber member 10U by bolts 78 .

The YAG rod 22 has, for example, a round rod body with a diameter of 8 mm, and both ends thereof are held by cylindrical laser rod holders 84 . Further, the laser rod holder 84 is held by O-rings 90 on the rod holders 88 detachably attached to both ends of the lower chamber member 10L by bolts 86 .

The lower elliptical mirror barrel member 25L and the upper elliptical mirror barrel member 25U are respectively held at both ends by the lower holding member 58L and the upper holding member 58U, and are fixed to the lower chamber member 10L and the upper chamber member 10U by bolts 92, 94. superior.

On the lower chamber member 10L and the upper chamber member 10U, pipes for connecting the cooling water channels in the lower elliptical mirror barrel member 25L and the upper elliptical mirror barrel member 25U to the outside of the chamber 10 are formed by machining. 34 (FIG. 1) flow path 96. A mesh filter 98 is provided near the outlet of the flow path 96 . A gap 100 for removing air bubbles from the flow path 96 is provided on the upper surface of the upper chamber member 10U.

In this embodiment, since the material of the lower chamber member 10L and the upper chamber member 10U is metal such as stainless steel or aluminum, the mechanism for forming the liquid-tight flow path 74 in the chamber 10 can be performed simply and with high precision. Processing, component processing, installation, assembly, etc. of the lower holding member 58L, the upper holding member 58U, the laser rod holder 52, and the like.

[Action of Trigger Mechanism in Embodiment]

Hereinafter, the action of the trigger mechanism for starting lighting of the strobe lamp 28 in the YAG laser processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described in detail.

The control unit 20 keeps the main lighting circuit 30 off during the period when the pulsed laser light LB is not oscillating and outputting, and keeps flowing the closed current I _S for backup protection against electricity to the strobe lamp 28 through the closed loop circuit 15 . Then, when the pulsed laser light LB is oscillated and output, a trigger pulse TP having a high voltage with a predetermined peak value is output to the trigger circuit 18 .

The trigger pulse TP output by the trigger circuit 18 is applied to the flash lamp 28 from the outside of the tube wall through the trigger electrode 16, the dielectric 17, the chamber 10, the holding parts 58L, 58U, the elliptical mirror tube 25 and the cooling water. Therefore, the chamber 10, the holding members 58L and 58U, and the elliptical mirror barrel 25 are electrically connected to each other and are at the same potential, and the trigger electrode 16 and the chamber 10 (lower chamber member 10L) are capacitively coupled through the capacitor _CA. As described above, since the capacitance of the capacitor _CA is very large, the voltage drop in the capacitor _CA for the trigger pulse TP is small. Therefore, most of the voltage of the trigger pulse TP is applied between the elliptical mirror barrel 25 and the cathode electrode 66 .

The cooling water and the gas inside the lamp tube are interposed between the elliptical mirror tube 25 and the cathode electrode 66 . Here, the specific permittivity of the cooling water is 80 or more, which is very large compared to the specific permittivity (1) in the air. That is, when the case where the elliptical mirror tube 25 is arranged around the outside of the strobe lamp 28 in cooling water is replaced with the case where the elliptical mirror tube 25 is arranged around the outside of the strobe lamp 28 in the air, the distance between the two can be obtained. The effect of shortening the gap interval to less than 1/80 (equivalent to the effect of making the elliptical mirror barrel 25 almost contact the tube wall of the flash lamp 28). Therefore, the voltage of the trigger pulse TP can be applied to the gas inside the strobe lamp 28 in the same way as the general external trigger method of starting lighting of the strobe lamp 28 in the atmosphere.

Accordingly, in the vicinity of the cathode electrode 66 in the flash lamp 28, the insulation of the xenon gas is broken, and the gas molecules are ionized. Then, the electrons generated by the ionization of the gas molecules move toward the anode electrode 68 and collide with the gas molecules to gradually expand the ionization or excitation, and an electron avalanche phenomenon occurs to start the discharge. And the glow discharge is continued by the closed loop current from the closed loop circuit 15 .

Furthermore, in the YAG laser processing apparatus of this embodiment, the inventors selected each of the conventional general values of 16kV, 17.4kV, 19.4kV, 21.8kV, 22.2kV, and 24.2kV as the trigger pulse TP voltage (peak value). In this case, check the lighting situation of the flashlight 28 to confirm that the flashlight 28 can be turned on stably and reliably under any circumstances.

The control unit 20 outputs the trigger pulse TP to the trigger circuit 18 as described above, and controls the drive circuit 40 of the main discharge circuit 30 to turn on the switching element 42 in synchronization with the start of discharge of the strobe lamp 28 . Accordingly, the main discharge circuit 30 supplies the strobe lamp 28 with a pulse-shaped main current, that is, the lamp excitation current I _R , and the strobe lamp 28 generates excitation light with the same pulse waveform. The excitation light emitted by the flash lamp 28 is reflected on the inner wall of the elliptical mirror tube 25 , passes through the glass plate 60 , and enters the side surface of the YAG rod 22 to excite the YAG rod 22 . And, as mentioned above, the light beam of a certain wavelength output in the axial direction from the both end faces of the excited YAG rod 22 is repeatedly reflected and amplified between the optical resonator mirrors 24 and 26 ( FIG. 1 ), and then output as pulsed laser light LB. Mirror 26.

As described above, in the YAG laser processing apparatus of this embodiment, no trigger electrode is provided in the chamber 10 that exposes the YAG rod 22 and the flash lamp 28 to cooling water, and since the flash lamp 28 can be turned on by an external trigger method, , the leakage from the trigger electrode located inside the chamber 10 can be fundamentally eliminated. Therefore, the cooling device 32 does not need to include an expensive ion exchange resin for generating pure water, and can supply tap water or industrial water to the chamber 10 as it is. In addition, since metals (conductors) such as stainless steel and aluminum are used for the material of the chamber 10 , machining of the chamber 10 and processing, mounting, and assembly of accessory parts can be performed easily and with high precision. As a result, with respect to the trigger mechanism and the cooling mechanism for the strobe lamp 28 , it is possible to achieve simplification and low cost while maintaining device performance, reliability, and mountability.

Moreover, in this embodiment, since the trigger electrode 16 is disposed between the insulating base 50 and the lower chamber member 10L fixed thereon, not only can the electrostatic capacity between the trigger electrode 16 and the chamber 10 be sufficient, The capacitor CA is large, and the trigger electrode 16 will not be an obstacle at all during the replacement and maintenance of components inside or around the chamber 10 . This is also an outstanding advantage in practical application.

[Other Embodiments or Modifications]

In the above-described embodiment, the elliptical mirror barrel 25 that reflects the excitation light from the strobe lamp 28 to the YAG rod 22 is provided inside the chamber 10 . In this case, as mentioned above, the elliptical mirror tube 25 also serves as a terminal trigger electrode in the external trigger mode in which the trigger pulse TP is applied to the flash lamp 28 from the outside of the tube wall. However, the elliptical mirror tube 25 can also be omitted. In this case, the strobe lamp 28 may be arranged close to the inner wall of the chamber 10 so that the chamber 10 (for example, the upper chamber member 10U) is located around the outside of the strobe lamp 28 to function as a terminal trigger electrode.

As shown in FIG. 4, as a modified example of the structure around the chamber 10, not only an insulating base 50 and a plate-like dielectric 17 are used to cover the upper and lower surfaces of the trigger electrode 16, but also the entire side surface of the trigger electrode 16 can be used. Insulator 102 surrounds the structure. By sealing the trigger electrode 16 with an insulator in this way, even if cooling water flows out around the chamber 10 during maintenance or the like, leakage protection can be performed so that the trigger electrode 16 does not come into contact with the cooling water.

In addition, handling is more inconvenient than in the above-described embodiment, but it is also possible to arrange the trigger electrode 16 to face any surface other than the lower surface of the chamber 10 . In this case, a dielectric is preferably interposed between the trigger electrode 16 and the opposing surface of the chamber 10 .

The present invention can be applied to any other solid-state laser devices other than the YAG laser processing device in the above-mentioned embodiment.

Claims (12)

1. a laser aid, is characterized in that,

Possess:

There is the laser oscillating part of Solid State Laser medium;

What have the photoflash lamp for exciting light being irradiated the external trigger mode in above-mentioned Solid State Laser medium excites portion;

Receive the conductivity chamber of above-mentioned Solid State Laser medium and above-mentioned photoflash lamp side by side;

Be configured at outside above-mentioned chamber, between above-mentioned chamber, form the trigger electrode of capacitor; And

In order to start the bright light of above-mentioned photoflash lamp, apply the circuits for triggering of high voltage pulse to above-mentioned trigger electrode.

2. laser aid according to claim 1, is characterized in that,

Dielectric is clamped between above-mentioned trigger electrode and above-mentioned chamber.

3. laser aid according to claim 2, is characterized in that,

There is the insulating properties base loading and support above-mentioned chamber,

Above-mentioned trigger electrode and above-mentioned dielectric is inserted on above-mentioned base and between the bottom surface of above-mentioned chamber.

4. laser aid according to claim 3, is characterized in that,

Above-mentioned trigger electrode has the plate of planar or the form of thin slice, has the area of more than 1/2 below above-mentioned chamber.

5. the laser aid according to claim 3 or 4, is characterized in that,

Above-mentioned dielectric has the form of the plate of planar, thin slice or film, has the area of more than 1/2 below above-mentioned chamber.

6. the laser aid according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, is characterized in that,

Have and surround above-mentioned Solid State Laser medium and above-mentioned photoflash lamp in above-mentioned chamber, internal face reflects the conductivity reflection part of above-mentioned exciting light.

7. laser aid according to claim 6, is characterized in that,

Above-mentioned reflection part has the elliptical reflecting lens barrel of conductivity,

Above-mentioned Solid State Laser medium and above-mentioned photoflash lamp are configured on a pair elliptic focus position in above-mentioned elliptical reflecting lens barrel respectively.

8. laser aid according to claim 7, is characterized in that,

Above-mentioned reflection part is electrically connected on above-mentioned chamber.

9. the laser aid according to any one of claim 1 ~ 8, is characterized in that,

In above-mentioned chamber, above-mentioned Solid State Laser medium and above-mentioned photoflash lamp to be exposed in cooling water and to cool.

10. laser aid according to claim 9, is characterized in that,

Above-mentioned cooling water is not by running water or the water for industrial use of ion exchange resin.

11. laser aids according to any one of claim 1 ~ 10, is characterized in that,

There is the closed loop circuit to the above-mentioned photoflash lamp supply preparation discharging current in standby.

12. laser aids according to any one of claim 1 ~ 11, is characterized in that,

Above-mentioned trigger electrode is enclosed in dielectric.