Abstract

Thermal induced distortion in the gain element is the main obstacle to be overcome in the scaling of solid-state lasers to very high output powers. This causes non-spherical thermal lensing which cannot be compensated for by cavity design alone. Reduced efficiency and multiple transverse mode operation of the laser oscillator results. To maximize the beam quality and output power of such lasers, it is necessary to include some form of compensation for these aberrations. One technique is to use deformable membrane mirrors which have recently been developed for use in astronomical and medical imaging. These have been successfully demonstrated to improve beam quality in master-oscillator power-amplifier systems.¹

© 2002 Optical Society of America