1. A Ho:YAG crystal laser amplifier with a separate thulium fiber coherent light pump source at a wavelength of 1.9 \u03bcm to amplify a signal having a wavelength of 2.1 \u03bcm by directly end pumping the Ho:YAG crystal laser at its 5I7 to 5I8 transition, the Ho:YAG crystal laser amplifier comprising:
a yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) crystal host rod doped with less than 2% holmium (Ho) active ions, and having a length long enough to produce an output laser emission with less than 2% holmium active ions in the Ho:YAG crystal laser; and
wherein the Ho:YAG crystal laser has a quantum defect less than 1.0 when the holmium ions are directly pumped from the pump source to produce an output laser emission having a wavelength of 2.1 \u03bcm.
2. The Ho:YAG crystal laser amplifier of claim 1 further comprising a source of seed pulses to cause amplified pulses to be output from the laser when it is used as an amplifier.
3. The Ho:YAG crystal laser amplifier of claim 1 wherein the laser has no sensitizer ions to thereby eliminate any energy mismatches caused by sensitizer ions, and thereby increase the efficiency of the laser while minimizing detrimental thermal loading in the laser caused by up-conversion loss processes.
4. The Ho:YAG crystal laser amplifier of claim 3 wherein the pump source provides an output at a wavelength of 1.9 \u03bcm that is used to directly pump the holmium doped laser at the holmium 5I7 to 5I8 transition.
5. The Ho:YAG crystal laser amplifier of claim 4 further comprising a source of seed pulses to cause amplified pulses to be output from the laser when it is used as an amplifier.
6. The Ho:YAG crystal laser of claim 4 wherein the coherent light pump source is a thulium fiber laser that provides an output at a wavelength at or near 1.9 \u03bcm that is used to directly pump the holmium doped laser at the holmium 5I7 to 5I8 transition.
7. A holmium doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) crystal laser amplifier comprising:
a crystal host material doped with less than 2% active ions, and having a length long enough to produce an output laser emission with that low level of doping when pumped; and
a thulium fiber laser pump source that provides an output at a wavelength of 1.9 \u03bcm that is used to directly pump the holmium doped laser amplifier at the holmium 5I7 to 5I8 transition, wherein the holmium doped host material has no sensitizer ions to thereby eliminate any energy mismatches caused by sensitizer ions, and thereby increase the efficiency of the laser amplifier while minimizing detrimental thermal loading in the laser amplifier caused by up-conversion loss processes.
8. The holmium doped crystal laser amplifier of claim 7 further comprising a source of seed pulses that when input to the holmium doped crystal host material causes amplified pulses to be output from the laser amplifier.
9. The holmium doped crystal laser amplifier of claim 7 wherein the doping with less than 2% holmium active ions in the YAG crystal host rod reduces unwanted up-conversions losses in the laser which thereby helps to minimize detrimental thermal loading in the laser amplifier.
10. A holmium doped crystal laser of claim 9 wherein the doping with less than 2% holmium active ions reduces absorption of its own energy to thereby increase the operating efficiency of the laser amplifier.
11. A laser crystal amplifer for amplifying seed pulses and the amplified pulses have a wavelength of 2.1 microns, the laser crystal amplifier comprising:
a laser crystal having a host material doped with less than 2% holmium active ions, and having a length long enough to produce an output laser emission;
a pump laser for generating a pump beam having a wavelength of 1.9 microns that is imput to the laser crystal of the amplifier; and
optical means for combining the pump beam and the seed pulses to be amplified before they are input to the laser crystal;
wherein each time a seed pulse is input to the laser crystal along with the pump beam there is a pulse output from the laser crystal, and the output pulse is an amplified version of the seed pulse, and wherein the holmium doped host material has no sensitizer ions to thereby eliminate any energy mismatches caused by sensitizer ions, and thereby increase the efficiency of the laser amplifier while minimizing detrimental thermal loading in the laser amplifier caused by up-conversion loss.
12. The laser crystal amplifier of claim 11 wherein the pump laser is a thulium fiber laser.
13. The laser crystal amplifier of claim 12 wherein the host material of the holmium doped laser crystal is yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) the output laser emission from which is at 2.1 microns yielding a pump ratio of 0.9 and thereby a very low quantum defect for the laser crystal.
14. The laser crystal amplifier of claim 11 wherein the pump beam output from the pump laser and input to the laser crystal is pulsed, and the seed pulses to be amplified are input to the laser crystal via the optical mean after each pulse from the pump laser.
15. The laser crystal amplifier of claim 14 wherein the optical means has a high transmissivity at the pump wavelength of 1.9 microns and a high reflectivity at substantially 2.1 microns to input the seed pulses and the pump beam along the same optical path to be input on the laser crystal.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A building wrap membrane comprising a sheet of spunbonded vapor permeable polypropylene base member with integral adhesive attachment means on the front and back of said sheet, said adhesive attachment means comprising at least one pressure sensitive adhesive strip with a release cover, a drainage matrix secured to the front of said sheet, said drainage matrix being constructed of individual thermoplastic threads randomly laid down and secured together by heat bonding; said threads being formed into spaced rows with at least one expansion joint formed across said rows, said drainage matrix being secured to said base member leaving an uncovered area at the top of said sheet to receive an adhesive attachment strip while substantially covering the rest of said sheet.
2. A building wrap membrane of claim 1, wherein said drainage matrix rows are composed of nylon threads.
3. A building wrap membrane of claim 1, wherein said drainage matrix rows are composed of polypropylene threads.
4. A building wrap membrane of claim 1, wherein said drainage matrix rows are composed of CLP plastic threads.
5. A building wrap membrane of claim 1, wherein said adhesive attachment means applied to the back of said base member is at least one strip of vapor permeable pressure sensitive adhesive ranging from 1\xbd inches to 6 inches in width with a similar sized release cover.
6. A building wrap membrane of claim 1, wherein said adhesive attachment means applied to the front of said base member is at least one strip of vapor permeable pressure sensitive adhesive with a release cover positioned above said drainage matrix parallel to the top and bottom edges of said base member.
7. A building wrap membrane of claim 5, wherein said adhesive strip with a release cover is about 6 inches in width.
8. A building wrap membrane of claim 1, wherein said at least one expansion joint is a plurality of spaced expansion joints.
9. A building wrap membrane of claim 1, wherein said at least one expansion joint ranges from \xbd inch to 1 inch in width.
10. A building wrap membrane of claim 1, wherein each thread row height is about 3 mm nominal plus or minus 1 mm in height.
11. A building wrap membrane of claim 1, wherein each thread row height is about 7 mm nominal plus or minus 1 mm in height.
12. A building wrap membrane of claim 1, wherein each thread row height is about 11 mm nominal plus or minus 1 mm in height.
13. A water vapor permeable air and moisture barrier rain drainage sheet configured in sheet form that can be applied to a building wall structure comprising a sheet of spunbonded polypropylene sheet member with integral adhesive attachment means formed on the front and back surfaces of said sheet member, a drainage matrix secured to said sheet member on the front surface of said sheet member adjacent said front surface adhesive attachment means, said drainage matrix being comprised of individual thermoplastic threads randomly laid down to form a net and secured together by heat bonding; said thermoplastic threads being formed into spaced rows ranging from about \xbd inch to about 1 inch in width with a substantially uniform height, a plurality of expansion joints in the form of linear spaces are formed across said rows and positioned perpendicular thereto, said drainage matrix being applied to the outer surface of said sheet member leaving a space from said drainage member to an upper edge of said sheet member ranging from 6 inches to 9 inches.
14. A building wrap membrane of claim 13, wherein said expansion joints range from \xbd inch to 1 inch in width.
15. A building wrap membrane of claim 13, wherein each row height is about 3 mm nominal plus or minus 1 mm in height.
16. A building wrap membrane of claim 13, wherein each row height is about 7 mm nominal plus or minus 1 mm in height.
17. A building wrap membrane of claim 13, wherein each row height is about 11 mm nominal plus or minus 1 mm in height.
18. A building wrap membrane of claim 13 wherein said adhesive attachment means is an adhesive tape with a removable cover liner.
19. A building wrap membrane of claim 18 wherein said adhesive tape applied to the front surface of said sheet member ranges from about 2 \xbd inches to about 4 \xbd inches in width.
20. A building wrap membrane of claim 18 wherein said adhesive tape applied to the rear surface of said sheet member ranges from about 1 \xbd inches to about 6 inches in width.
21. A water vapor permeable air and moisture barrier rain drainage sheet configured in sheet form that can be applied to a building wall structure comprising a sheet of spunbonded polypropylene sheet member with integral adhesive attachment means formed on the front and rear surfaces of said sheet member, said adhesive attachment means comprising a permeable pressure sensitive adhesive strip with a release cover, said permeable pressure sensitive adhesive strip being positioned on the top portion of said sheet member front surface and the rear portion of the said rear surface adjacent the bottom of the sheet member, a drainage matrix secured to said sheet member on the front surface of said sheet member adjacent said front sheet permeable adhesive strip, said drainage matrix being comprised of individual thermoplastic threads randomly laid down to form a net and secured together by heat bonding; said thermoplastic threads being formed into spaced parallel rows ranging from about \xbd inch to about 1 inch in width with a plurality of expansion joints formed across said spaced rows and positioned perpendicular thereto, the base of said expansion joints being substantially equal to the base of a channel formed by adjacent rows, said drainage matrix being applied to the outer surface of said sheet member leaving a space from said drainage member to an upper edge of said sheet member ranging from about 6 inches to about 9 inches.