Abstract

Improving the beam quality of high power lasers such as Nd:YAG and CO₂ is of great interest. Variable reflectivity mirrors (VRM), particularly the Super-Gaussian mirror (SGM),¹ have taken an important role to obtain large fundamental mode oscillation. A well-designed rod-imaging resonator with SGM,² 200W, near diffraction limited, has been demonstrated. It seems possible to get even higher power, the problems are how to avoid the damage of SGM and how to get high peak reflectivity for an optimum output coupling.

© 1994 Optical Society of America