Thermal effects in a coplanar-pumped folded-zigzag slab laser

Author

McInnes, Alasdair ; Richards, James

Author_Institution

Land Space & Optoelectron. Div., Defence Sci. & Technol. Organ., Salisbury, SA, Australia

Volume

32

Issue

7

fYear

1996

fDate

7/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1243

Lastpage

1252

Abstract

The properties of a coplanar-pumped folded-slab laser under the influence of thermal lensing have been modeled and measured. It is shown that despite the formation of a strong astigmatic lens within the slab, the results can be used to design resonators capable of good TEM₀₀ performance, suitable for a wide variety of applications. Good agreement is found between modeling and measurement of slab and laser parameters. Using a novel technique, the fraction of absorbed pump power converted to heat has been measured under diode-laser pumping

Keywords

coplanar waveguides; laser cavity resonators; laser modes; laser theory; optical design techniques; optical pumping; solid lasers; waveguide lasers; absorbed pump power; coplanar-pumped folded-zigzag slab laser; diode-laser pumping; folded-slab laser; good TEM₀₀ performance; laser parameters; laser resonator design; strong astigmatic lens; thermal effects; thermal lensing; Diodes; Geometrical optics; Heat pumps; Laser excitation; Laser modes; Optical design; Optical fiber polarization; Pump lasers; Semiconductor laser arrays; Slabs;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.517025

Filename

517025