US 7,499,477 B2
	Internal combustion engine
Ernst Winklhofer, St. Johann Ob Hohenburg (Austria); Georg Franz, Villach (Austria); Gerhard Kroupa, Villach (Austria); Volker Mannheim, Landskron (Austria); and Alfred Binder, Landskron (Austria)
Assigned to AVL List GmbH, Graz (Austria)
Appl. No. 10/573,115 PCT Filed Sep. 23, 2004, PCT No. PCT/AT2004/000320 § 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date May 05, 2006, PCT Pub. No. WO2005/028856, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 31, 2005.
Claims priority of application No. 03021446 (EP), filed on Sep. 23, 2003; and application No. 03450285 (EP), filed on Dec. 23, 2003.
Prior Publication US 2007/0064746 A1, Mar. 22, 2007
Int. Cl. H01S 3/11 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 372—10  [372/34]

42 Claims

1. An internal combustion engine with a laser ignition device, comprising a Q-switched, pumped solid-state laser with a pulsed pumped light source, a solid laser crystal embedded in a resonator, a Q-switch for increasing the power density, at least one output mirror and a focusing device, by means of which the laser beam may be focused in a combustion chamber, wherein the pumped light source, resonator plus laser crystal, Q-switch, output mirror, focusing device and a cooling device for cooling the resonator are integrated in a single component which can be inserted into a spark-plug shaft.