Abstract
High-power diffraction-limited laser beams are of paramount importance in most laser applications. One of the most common solutions, so far, has been the use of unstable resonators in which the output is taken around the edges of one of the mirrors. The resulting output beam cross section, however, has an annular shape and exhibits diffraction rings, resulting in a poorly focusable beam, especially at low values of the cavity magnification factor. This problem can be circumvented by using an output mirror whose reflectivity is radially decreasing. Although the advantages of using such a mirror were already recognized many years ago,1 very few works have been performed to implement this idea in a practical configuration.2–4 Moreover, the solutions so far proposed appear to be peculiar to a given laser.
© 1986 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
Daniel Cantin and Michel Piché
LT5 Advanced Solid State Lasers (ASSL) 1992
D.J. Harter, T. Chin, J. Pete, and J.C. Walling
WB5 Advanced Solid State Lasers (ASSL) 1986
A. PARENT and P. LAVIGNE
THM35 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 1988