Appeal No. 1998-1661
Application No. 08/409,244
This is a decision on appeal from the final rejection of
claims 1 through 15, all of the claims pending in the
application.
The invention is directed to a hybrid solid state laser
having a Neodymium-based Master Oscillator [MO] and a
Ytterbium-based Power Amplifier [PA].
Representative independent claim 1 is reproduced as
follows:
1. A MOPA laser system comprising:
a laser master oscillator (MO) pumped by a first pump
source and having a Nd-doped gain medium for generating a MO
beam with tailored beam properties; and
a power amplifier (PA) pumped by a second pump source and
having an Yb-doped gain medium for amplifying the MO beam, the
MO and PA being arranged to input the MO beam into the PA to
pass the MO beam through the Yb-doped gain medium;
the Nd-doped gain medium and Yb-doped gain medium having
a gain maximum at substantially the same wavelength, the Nd-
doped gain medium having a higher gain cross section than the
Yb-doped gain medium, the Yb-doped gain medium having a longer
energy storage time than the Nd-doped gain medium.
The examiner relies on the following references:
O’Meara 5,126,876 Jun. 30, 1992
Krupke et al. (Krupke) 5,280,492 Jan. 18, 1994
Payne et al. (Payne) 5,341,389 Aug. 23, 1994
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