Title :
Stable range enhancement in a symmetric confocal two-rod resonator with 90° optical rotator
Author :
Kim, Hyun Su ; Kim, Jin-Tae ; Park, Jong Rak
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Photonic Eng., Chosun Univ., Gwangju, South Korea
Abstract :
We propose a method to eliminate the narrow unstable region of a symmetric two-rod resonator with a 90° optical rotator which is used to compensate for thermal birefringence of the laser rod. The narrow unstable region is caused by the difference between the thermal focal lengths of the radial and tangential directions of a laser rod. Using the g-diagram analysis, we find that the narrow unstable region can be removed in the resonator configuration of a symmetric confocal type. We investigate the effect of the distance between two rods of the proposed resonator on the stability and the beam quality.
Keywords :
birefringence; laser beams; laser cavity resonators; laser stability; neodymium; optical rotation; solid lasers; symmetry; thermo-optical effects; Nd:YAG laser; YAG:Nd; YAl5O12:Nd; beam quality; laser rod; narrow unstable region; resonator configuration; stable range enhancement; symmetric confocal two-rod resonator; symmetric confocal type; thermal birefringence; thermal focal lengths; Birefringence; Laser beams; Laser stability; Mirrors; Optical pumping; Optical resonators; Power lasers; Pump lasers; Thermal lensing; Thermal stability;
Journal_Title :
Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JQE.2003.819537