JPH1056228A - Gas laser oscillation device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To solve the problem that the temperature of an optical component holder is low during a low-temperature atmosphere stoppage in winter and a long time is required until laser output is stabilized at the start of laser oscillation. The purpose is to: SOLUTION: An oil heater 13, an oil pump 8 and a temperature thermistor 9 are inserted into an oil pipe line to a holder 7 for optical components such as a component transmission type reflection mirror 4 and a total reflection mirror 5 to stop a low-temperature atmosphere. A gas laser oscillation device using a control device 14 for controlling the oil heater 13 and the oil pump 8 to be turned on and off therein.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gas laser oscillation device capable of obtaining a stable laser output at the time of startup in a low-temperature atmosphere.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional gas laser oscillator is shown in FIGS.
It is explained along.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 1 denotes a gas laser medium; 2, a DC high-voltage power supply; 3a and 3b, discharge electrodes connected to the DC high-voltage power supply 2; Mirror 5, a total reflection mirror for amplifying light,
Reference numeral 6 denotes a laser tube; 7, an optical component holder for holding optical components such as the partial transmission mirror 4 and the total reflection mirror; 8, an oil pump for supplying oil to the optical component holder 7; Temperature thermistor for detecting oil temperature, 10
Is an oil cooler for cooling oil, 11 is an oil tank, and 12 is a control device for controlling the oil cooler 10.

Next, the operation of the conventional gas laser oscillation device will be described. First, discharge is performed from the discharge electrodes 3a and 3b connected to the DC high-voltage power supply 2. As a result, the gas laser medium 1 is excited by obtaining discharge energy, and the excited gas laser medium is brought into a resonance state by the optical resonator formed by the partial transmission mirror 4 and the total reflection mirror 5, and the partial transmission reflection occurs. The mirror 4 outputs a laser beam. This laser beam is used for processing such as cutting and welding. Further, in order to prevent the parallelism between the partial transmission type reflection mirror 4 and the total reflection mirror 5 from being destroyed due to the heat energy due to the discharge being applied to the optical component holder 7, oil is optically applied to the optical component holder 7 by an oil pump 8. The oil is supplied to the component holder 7, the temperature of the oil is detected by the temperature thermistor 9, and the control device 12 controls the oil cooler 10.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned conventional gas laser oscillation device, when the device is stopped in a low-temperature atmosphere such as winter, the temperature of the optical component holder 7 is low as shown in FIG. It takes a lot of time until the temperature of the optical component holder 7 returns to the operating temperature due to the discharge energy.
For this reason, the laser output is reduced due to a shift in the parallelism between the partial transmission reflecting mirror and the total reflecting mirror, which are optical components, and there is a problem that much time is required for the laser output to stabilize.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides an oil heater installed in an oil piping path,
The control device controls the oil temperature on and off so that a stable laser output can be obtained when the laser oscillation is started from the time when the low-temperature atmosphere is stopped.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With the above configuration, in the gas laser oscillation device of the present invention, the temperature of the optical component holder is kept at the operating temperature when the low temperature atmosphere is stopped, so that the partial transmission of the optical component is maintained. The parallelism between the type reflector and the total reflection mirror does not collapse, and has an effect of obtaining a stable laser output at the time of startup.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. Note that reference numerals 1 to 11 are the same as in the conventional example, and a description thereof will be omitted.

(Embodiment 1) Embodiment 1 of the present invention
As shown in FIG. 1, an oil heater 13 is installed between the thermistor 9 and the oil tank 11, and the oil temperature is detected by the temperature thermistor 9 while the low-temperature atmosphere is stopped.
If the temperature decreases, the control device 14 controls the oil heater 13.
And the oil pump 8 is operated. After the start of the operation, the operation is performed by the conventional control method. Thereby, even in a low-temperature atmosphere, the parallelism between the partially transmitting reflection mirror and the total reflection mirror is always maintained. FIG. 2 shows a timing chart of the first embodiment. This shows that a stable laser output can be obtained even at the time of startup while the low-temperature atmosphere is stopped.

(Embodiment 2) In Embodiment 2, as shown in FIG. 3, a timer 15 is provided in the control device 14 so that the oil heater 1 is provided only for a certain period of time before the start of operation.
By controlling the operation of the oil pump 8 and the oil pump 8, the partial transmission mirror 4 and the total reflection mirror 5 can be operated at startup in a low-temperature atmosphere.
Is kept parallel. Other configurations and operations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will not be repeated. FIG. 4 shows a timing chart of the second embodiment. This shows that a stable laser output can be obtained even at the time of startup while the low-temperature atmosphere is stopped.

[0012]

According to the present invention, an oil heater, an oil pump and a temperature thermistor are inserted into an oil pipe path to a holder for optical components such as a partial transmission type mirror and a total reflection mirror. A control device for controlling the operation of the oil pump is provided, which has an excellent effect that a stable laser output can be obtained at the time of start-up while the low-temperature atmosphere is stopped.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a gas laser oscillation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart of the gas laser oscillation device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a gas laser oscillation device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart of the gas laser oscillation device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a gas laser oscillation device in a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart of the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Optical component holder 8 Oil pump 9 Temperature thermistor 10 Oil cooler 11 Oil heater 14 Control device 15 Timer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A gas laser oscillation device for controlling the temperature of optical components such as a transmission mirror and a total reflection mirror using circulating oil, wherein an oil heater, an oil pump, and a temperature sensor are provided in an oil piping path to an optical component holder. A gas laser oscillating device having a thermistor inserted therein and a control device for controlling the oil heater and the oil pump to be turned on and off while the low-temperature atmosphere is stopped. 2. The gas laser oscillation device according to claim 1, wherein the control device controls the on / off of the oil heater and the oil pump only for a certain period of time before the operation is started by a timer.