Cavity dumper

Claim 1

A cavity dumper for a laser resonant cavity comprising: lasing material for emitting a range of light wavelengths or modes along a main optical path of length L with two ends, said lasing material located between said ends; means in proximity to said lasing material for pumping said lasing material to an excited state where said light emission will occur; a total reflecting surface placed in said main optical path at one end of said laser resonant cavity for establishing a closed end to said main optical path; a Fox interferometer placed in said main optical path for operating a selective emission second end to said laser resonant cavity, said interferometer has two interferometric legs of length l 1 , and l 2 at the second end of said main optical path such that two resonating paths of length, L+l 1 , and l 1 +l 2 , exist, said resonating paths determinative of which wavelengths are emitted by said selective end of the resonant cavity and which wavelengths are contained along said resonating paths; a variable voltage source electrically connected to said electro-optic cell for changing the path length of at least one of said two resonating paths as the voltage is varied in a predetermined manner; and an electro-optic cell placed in said paths of length L, l 1 , or l 2 in a predetermined manner, said variation changing the wavelengths emitted by said selective emission end of said laser resonant cavity and the wavelengths contained by the new combination of resonating paths.

Claim 10

A method for emitting light of a predetermined mode from an optical resonant cavity while said cavity is resonating in at least one other mode comprising the steps of: emitting a beam of laser light along an optical path with one totally reflective end, said beam including a predetermined range of wavelengths; subdividing said beam with a Fox interferometer such that two resonating paths exist along three segments that are identified as l 1 , l 2 and L where l 1 and l 2 are one resonating path length formed by the two interferometric legs present in a Fox interferometer and where L+l 1 are the second resonating path length formed by one leg, l 1 , of the Fox interferometer and the main optical path, L, which contains lasing material for said emitting step, whereby light resonating along path length l 1 +l 2 interferes with light resonating along path length L+l 1 , such that no output of light occurs for a selected spectrum of wavelengths, a mode, and wavelengths not in said spectrum, all other modes, are lost from the Fox interferometer and do not resonate; placing a voltage regulated electro-optical cell in interferometric leg l 2 for changing the path length of interferometric leg l 2 to l 2 ' in a known manner such that the interference pattern between resonating path length L+l 1 and l 1 +l 2 ' resonates a different spectrum of wavelengths, a new mode, and the previous resonating mode is emitted as a member of all other modes; and varying the voltage on said electro-optic cell to produce said predetermined change of path length in leg l 2 .

Claim 11

A method for emitting light of a predetermined mode from an optical resonant cavity while said cavity is resonating in at least one other mode comprising the steps of: emitting a beam of laser light along an optical path with one totally reflective end, said beam including a predetermined range of wavelengths; subdividing said beam with a Fox interferometer such that two resonating paths exist along three segments that are identified as l 1 , l 2 and L where l 1 and l 2 are one resonating path length formed by the two interferometric legs present in a Fox interferometer and where L+l 1 are the second resonating path length formed by one leg, l 1 , of the Fox interferometer and the main optical path, L, which contains lasing material for said emitting step, whereby light resonating along path length l 1 +l 2 interferes with light resonating along path length L+l 1 , such that no output of light occurs for a selected spectrum of wavelengths, a mode, and wavelengths not in said spectrum, all other modes, are lost from the Fox interferometer and do not resonate; placing a voltage regulated electro-optical cell in interferometric leg l 2 for changing the path length of interferometric leg l 2 to l 2 ' in a known manner such that the interference pattern between resonating path length L+l 1 and l 1 +l 2 ' resonates a different spectrum of wavelengths, a new mode, and the previous resonating mode is emitted as a member of all other modes; and varying the voltage on said electro-optic cell to produce said predetermined change of path length in leg l 2 .

Claim 12

A method for emitting light of a predetermined mode from an optical resonant cavity while said cavity is resonating in at least one other mode comprising the steps of: emitting a beam of laser light along an optical path with one totally reflective end, said beam including a predetermined range of wavelengths, subdividing said beam with a Fox interferometer such that two resonating paths exist along three segments that are identified as l 1 , l 2 , and L where l 1 and l 2 are one resonating path length formed by the two interferometric legs present in a Fox interferometer and where L+l 1 are the second resonating path length formed by one leg, l 1 , of the Fox interferometer and the main optical path, L, which contains lasing material for said emitting step, whereby light resonating along path length l 1 +l 2 interferes with light resonating along path length L+l 1 such that no output of light occurs for a selected spectrum of wavelengths, a mode, and wavelengths not in said spectrum, all other modes, are lost from the Fox interferometer and do not resonate; placing a voltage regulated electro-optical cell in non-interferometric leg L for changing the path length of non-interferometric leg L to L' in a known manner such that the interference pattern between resonating path lengths L'+l 1 and l 1 +l 2 resonates a different spectrum of wavelengths, a new mode, and the previous resonating mode is emitted as a member of all other modes; and varying the voltage on said electro-optic cell to produce said predetermined change of path length in leg L.

Claim 13

A method for emitting light of a predetermined mode from an optical resonant cavity while said cavity is resonating in at least one other mode comprising the steps of: emitting a beam of laser light along an optical path with one totally reflective end, said beam including a predetermined range of wavelengths, subdividing said beam with a Fox interferometer such that two resonating paths exist along three segments that are identified as l 1 , l 2 , and L where l 1 and l 2 are one resonating path length formed by the two interferometric legs present in a Fox interferometer and where L+l 1 are the second resonating path length formed by one leg, l 1 , of the Fox interferometer and the main optical path, L, which contains lasing material for said emitting step, whereby light resonating along path length l 1 +l 2 interferes with light resonating along path length L+l 1 such that no output of light occurs for a selected spectrum of wavelengths, a mode, and wavelengths not in said spectrum, all other modes, are lost from the Fox interferometer and do not resonate; placing a voltage regulated electro-optical cell in non-interferometric leg L for changing the path length of non-interferometric leg L to L' in a known manner such that the interference pattern between resonating path lengths L'+l 1 and l 1 +l 2 resonates a different spectrum of wavelengths, a new mode, and the previous resonating mode is emitted as a member of all other modes; and varying the voltage on said electro-optic cell to produce said predetermined change of path length in leg L.