Non-planar ring laser with the corner cube prism

Kane and Byer reported the first monolithic non-planar miniature ring laser in 1985. An intrinsic optical diode enforces unidirectional and hence single-frequency oscillation of this device. We put forward another kind of the non-planar ring lasers, in which the corner cube prism is the key element. The non-planar travelling ray in the corner cube, Faraday rotation in the Nd:YAG crystal placed in a magnetic field and the different output coupling in S and P polarization can yield the single-frequency laser output in theory. The distorted Porro prism made by Nd:YAG crystal plays the role of the laser medium and the laser output coupler is realized by one of the two roof surfaces. The whole system can be made as a quasi-monolithic laser by optical bonding technology.