Abstract

A novel class of unstable resonators is described in which the mode spatial distribution is altered within the resonator by a prism or axicon. In the particular configuration studied in this work, the resonator beam is separated into two halves by an intracavity reflecting prism. The conditions under which the two halves of the resonator become phase locked to form a coherent mode are studied experimentally and discussed in terms of laser injection locking.

© 1977 Optical Society of America

Theory of modes in a loaded strip confocal unstable resonator

Gerald T. Moore and Robert J. McCarthy
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67(2) 228-241 (1977)

Effects of medium and gain inhomogeneities in unstable optical resonators

C. Santana and L. B. Felsen
Appl. Opt. 16(4) 1058-1066 (1977)

Unstable Laser Resonator Modes

R. L. Sanderson and W. Streifer
Appl. Opt. 8(10) 2129-2136 (1969)

Modes in misaligned unstable resonators

Paul Horwitz
Appl. Opt. 15(1) 167-178 (1976)

Mode-medium instability in an unstable resonator

C. C. Sung, Y. Q. Li, and Martin E. Smithers
Appl. Opt. 27(1) 58-65 (1988)