Title :
Solid-state lasers at the stability limit: constant beam properties over large power ranges
Author :
Wyss, Eduard ; Graf, Thomas ; Weber, Heinz P.
Author_Institution :
Inst. of Appl. Phys., Univ. of Bern, Switzerland
fDate :
5/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
Without adaptive optics high-power lasers suffer either from poor beam quality or limited power ranges. A laser can be forced to operate on its stability limit by self-adaptive overcompensation resulting in constant and good beam quality over a large power range. With this technique, the brightness of a Nd:YAG laser was increased by almost an order of magnitude despite highly aberrated thermal lens in the laser rod.
Keywords :
aberrations; adaptive optics; brightness; compensation; laser beams; laser cavity resonators; laser stability; lenses; neodymium; optical pumping; solid lasers; thermal lensing; YAG:Nd; YAl5O12:Nd; aberrated thermal lens; adaptive optics; beam quality; brightness; laser rod; self-adaptive overcompensation; solid-state lasers; stability limit; Laser beams; Laser noise; Laser stability; Laser tuning; Lenses; Optical distortion; Optical resonators; Power lasers; Solid lasers; Thermal lensing; Adaptive optics; Neodymium:YAG lasers; laser beam distortion; laser resonators; laser stability; laser thermal factors; laser tuning;
Journal_Title :
Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JQE.2005.845932
