AUTOMATIC MULTIPLEXER

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multiplexer which is capable of easily aligning the optical axes of two or more laser beams with each other and outputting the laser beams of high power. SOLUTION: The automatic multiplexer is composed of n laser resonators consisting of the first laser resonator that projects a laser beam, the second laser resonator to the n-th laser resonator (n is an integer of two or more) all successively installed in parallel with the first laser resonator and n first prisms which change the optical paths of the laser beams emitted from the above laser resonators vertical to the directions of incidence. The optical path of the laser beam projected from the n-th laser resonator is changed vertical to the direction of incidence by the first prism, and the laser beams projected from the laser resonators, the (n-1)-th laser resonator to the first laser resonator, are successively superimposed on the laser beam projected from the n-th laser resonator at each first prism, and the multiplexed laser beams are projected from the automatic multiplexer. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI