Laser resonator assembly

1 . A laser resonator assembly comprising:

a gain element having a first and a second surface,

a first end of the resonator formed by a highly reflective coating at a lasing wavelength on the first surface of the gain element;

an output coupler having a first and second surface;

a second end of the resonator formed by a partially transmitting optical coating at the lasing wavelength on the second surface of the output coupler;

a gain element frame that secures the gain element to form a gain element assembly;

an output coupler frame, separate and distinct from the gain element frame, that secures the output coupler to form an output coupler assembly; and

a gain element cap plate, wherein the gain element cap plate includes an aperture configured to transmit a pump beam without substantially clipping the pump beam.

2 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein the output coupler is a saturable absorber element.

3 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein the gain element frame comprises:

a first gain contact element that contacts the gain element along a first non-optical face of the gain element,

a second gain contact element that contacts the gain element along a second non-optical face of the gain element, the second non-optical face opposed to the first non-optical face, and

a gain joiner that secures the first gain contact element and the second gain

contact element together.

4 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 3 , wherein the first gain contact element and the second gain contact element are identical.

5 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 3 , wherein the first gain contact element and the second gain contact element have a “L-type” shape consisting of a short segment and long segment, wherein a first corner of the gain element fits into an internal corner of the “L” of the first gain contact element and a second corner of the gain element into an internal corner of the “L” of the second gain contact element.

6 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 3 , wherein the first gain contact element has a “U-type” shape consisting of a long segment with two short segments at opposed ends of the long segment and the second gain contact element is a rectangular parallelepiped.

7 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 3 , wherein the first gain contact element and the second gain contact element are rectangular parallelepipeds.

8 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 3 , wherein a thickness of the first and second gain contact elements is in a range between approximately the thickness of the gain element to twice the thickness of the gain element.

9 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 1 , further comprising an adjustment member.

10 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 9 , wherein the adjustment member is situated between the gain element assembly and the output coupler assembly.

11 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 9 , wherein the adjustment member is a deformable adjustment member configured to adjust an angular alignment between the first end of the resonator and the second end of the resonator.

12 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 9 , wherein the adjustment member is a mechanically rigid adjustment member having a curved surface facing one of the gain element assembly or the output coupler assembly.

13 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein an outer surface of the gain element assembly and an outer surface of the output coupler assembly form a common plane having a surface normal perpendicular to a lasing direction of the laser resonator assembly.

14 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 13 , wherein the common plane is in contact with a heat sink or heat exchanger.

15 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 1 , further comprising an output coupler cap plate, wherein the output coupler cap plate includes an aperture.

16 . The laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein the second surface of the gain element has an anti-reflection coating at the laser wavelength and the first surface of the output coupler has an anti-reflection coating at the laser wavelength and a reflectivity of the anti-reflection coatings on the second surface of the gain element and the first surface of the output coupler at an alignment wavelength is less than a reflectivity at the alignment wavelength of the coatings that form the first and the second ends of the resonator.

17 . A laser comprising:

the laser resonator assembly as recited in claim 1 ;

a pump source; and

a focusing lens.

18 . A method of assembly of a laser resonator assembly comprising:

assembling a gain element assembly from a gain element and a gain element frame, wherein a first end of a laser resonator is on a first surface of the gain element;

assembling an output coupler assembly from an output coupler and an output coupler frame, wherein a second end of the laser resonator is on a second surface of the output coupler;

placing the gain element assembly and the output coupler assembly in an alignment fixture with an adjustment member mechanically connecting the gain element assembly and the output coupler assembly;

adjusting an angular alignment between the gain element and the output coupler so that the first end of the laser resonator is parallel to the second end of the laser resonator; and

permanently affixing the gain element assembly and the output coupler assembly in this alignment.

19 . The method as recited in claim 18 , wherein the angular alignment is adjusted by aligning reflected spots from an alignment laser operating at an alignment wavelength from the first surface of the gain element and the second surface of the output coupler so that they are coincident on a detection device.