Intracavity control of a 200-W continuous-wave Nd:YAG laser by a micromachined deformable mirror

Abstract

A silicon micromachined membrane deformable mirror with a diameter of 10  mm, reflectivity of better than 99.8%, and a surface deflection range of $3 \mu \mathrm{m}$ has been used for intracavity control of an industrial 200-W cw Nd:YAG laser. When it was placed in the resonator, the mirror demonstrated continuous (more than 40-h) stable operation under an $\sim 550‐\mathrm{W}$ cw optical load, with beam diameters in the range 3–6  mm. Periodic modulation of the curvature of the deformable mirror with a frequency of 250  Hz produced quick switching between stable and unstable resonator configurations, which resulted in pulse-period $Q$-switched generation with average power in the range 50–200  W, modulation depth from 95% to 10%, and an $M^2$ parameter of 6.5 to 30.

© 2001 Optical Society of America

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