Appeal No. 2005-0616 Page 13
Application No. 09/661,653
The tunable laser 10 includes a laser gain element 11 disposed in a resonator 15
defined by optically aligned end reflective element or mirror 17, concave fold reflective
elements 13 and 13' and an output coupler reflective mirror 19. Mirror 17 is highly
reflective while mirror 19 is partially transmissive to a laser wavelength of approximately
700 nm to 850 nm to provide the output coupling for the laser emission within the
wavelength range of about 700 nm to 850 nm from tunable laser 10. It should,
however, be noted that a different wavelength can be realized by utilizing different
reflective coatings on optical elements 17, 13, 13' and 19, or by utilizing a laser gain
element 11 which contains one or more different dopants and different associated
optical elements. In addition, other gain media such as amorphous or glass-like
materials, or liquid and gaseous materials, may be used as the laser gain element.
The examiner's rejection
In the rejection under appeal (answer, pp. 3-6) the examiner ascertained that
Kocher does not teach (1) a second lasing chamber, (2) trivalent titanium ions dissolved
in a liquid host, and (3) the pump source being a semiconductor diode. The examiner
then concluded that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the
time of the invention to use (1) two chambers in Kocher, as taught by Chun, to provide
continuous and efficient lasing activity, (2) the trivalent titanium ions dissolved in a liquid
host in Kocher, as taught by Scheps, to produce a laser output with a specific
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