Multiple acousto-optic q-switch

Abstract

An improved dynamic moire interferometer comprised of a lasing medium providing a plurality of beams of coherent light, a multiple q-switch producing multiple trains of 100,000 or more pulses per second, a combining means collimating multiple trains of pulses into substantially a single train and directing beams to specimen gratings affixed to a test material, and a controller, triggering and sequencing the emission of the pulses with the occurrence and recording of a dynamic loading event.

The embodiments of this invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 
     
       1. A laser emitting laser pulses on multiple axes, comprising: a lasing medium having a plurality of lasing subregions,   a multiple q-switch located adjacent to and along the longitudinal axis of said lasing medium, comprised of a plurality of q-switches independently switching each of said subregions.   
     
     
       2. A multiple q-switch for pulsing a plurality of independent laser beams from a single lasing medium, comprising: a plurality of acousto-optic q-switches arranged on the periphery of a circle corresponding to a plurality of lasing regions in said laser, where a specific q-switch corresponds to a specific lasing region, and   means for turning off RF power to any of said acousto-optic switches where said loss of RF power allows said specific lasing region to pulse.   
     
     
       3. The apparatus of claim 2 including means for turning off RF power to successive q-switches. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein turning off RF power to successive q-switches pulses successive independent beams from said lasing regions in the MHz range. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of claim 3 including means for adjusting the interval between turning off RF to successive q-switches. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus of claim 5 where the means for adjusting the interval between turning off RF to successive q-switches is an adjustable internal clock. 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said means for adjusting the interval between turning off RF to successive q-switches is synchronized with external events. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the q-switches are cycled off and on in an ordered sequence where said ordered sequence moves from one lasing region to an adjacent lasing region while maintaining a specific direction around the periphery of said circle, thus, allowing the pulsed regions to re-pump before the next pulse for that region is activated. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of claim 2 where a q-switch controller supplies separately tuned RF power to each acousto-optic q-switch. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of claim 9 where said RF power supplied to a specific q-switch is adjusted to provide optimum beam diffraction.