Role of cavity degeneracy for high-order mode excitation in end-pumped solid-state lasers

Barré, Nicolas; Romanelli, Marco; Brunel, Marc

doi:10.1364/ol.39.001022

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…But an important aspect of our concept is that the intensity profile of the mode at the gain end should match as closely as possible to the gain profile. It is known that the overlap between the mode and the gain has a significant influence on the mode competition [40], since gain is the complement to loss inside lasers; that is to say, as the cavity lases when gain equals loss, increasing one is tantamount to decreasing the other. This overlap can be described by…”

Section: Concept and Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brightness enhancement in a solid-state laser by mode transformation

Naidoo¹,

Litvin²,

Forbes³

2018

Optica

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Laser brightness is a measure of the ability to deliver intense light to a target and encapsulates both the energy content and the beam quality. High-brightness lasers require that both parameters be maximized, yet standard laser cavities do not allow this. For example, multimode beams, a mix of many transverse modes, have a high energy content but low beam quality, while single transverse mode Gaussian beams have a good beam quality, but their small mode volume means a low energy extraction. Here we overcome this fundamental limitation and demonstrate an optimal approach to realizing high-brightness lasers. We employ intra-cavity beam shaping to produce a single transverse mode that changes profile inside the cavity, Gaussian at the output end and flattop at the gain end, such that both energy extraction and beam quality are simultaneously optimized. This work should have a significant influence on the design of future high-brightness laser cavities.

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Section: Concept and Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brightness enhancement in a solid-state laser by mode transformation

Naidoo¹,

Litvin²,

Forbes³

2018

Optica

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“…An alternative approach to selecting the desired mode is by shaping the pump light to be annular [31]. This forces the laser to oscillate in an annular profile by gain shaping [22] rather than loss shaping-the complement of the spot-defect approach. A similar mechanism has been employed in a double resonator configuration where the gain is controlled to select the desired mode [32].…”

Section: Oam Mode Generation (A) Scalar Modesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As they lase with very little spatial overlap (≈ 15%), we can understand the mechanism that leads to the incoherent sum: the odd and even petal-like modes are lasing almost independently of one another. Thus, despite the degeneracy in longitudinal mode frequency and Gouy phase shift (opposite signed modes have the same frequencies and phase shifts) of the pure azimuthal modes, it is possible, and perhaps even likely, that incoherent superpositions may lase [21] unless very careful attention is paid to the mode-selecting mechanism as well as the gain matching conditions [22].…”

Section: Defining Oam Cavity Modesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlling light’s helicity at the source: orbital angular momentum states from lasers

Forbes¹

2017

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Optical modes that carry orbital angular momentum (OAM) are routinely produced external to the laser cavity and have found a variety of applications, thus increasing the demand for integrated solutions for their production. Yet such modes are notoriously difficult to produce from lasers due to the strict symmetry requirements for their creation, together with the need to break the degeneracy in helicity. Here, we review the progress made since 1992 in producing such twisted light modes directly at the source, from gas to solid-state lasers, bulk to integrated on-chip solutions, through to generic devices for on-demand OAM in both scalar and vector forms.This article is part of the themed issue 'Optical orbital angular momentum'.

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“…[7][8][9] This approach is mode selective but not polarization selective, yet both are required in order to produce the vector-vortex modes. 1(e) and 1(f), respectively.…”

Section: Definitions and Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radially polarized cylindrical vector beams from a monolithic microchip laser

et al. 2015

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Monolithic microchip lasers consist of a thin slice of laser crystal where the cavity mirrors are deposited directly onto the end faces. While this property makes such lasers very compact and robust, it prohibits the use of intracavity laser beam shaping techniques to produce complex light fields. We overcome this limitation and demonstrate the selection of complex light fields in the form of vector-vortex beams directly from a monolithic microchip laser. We employ pump reshaping and a thermal gradient across the crystal surface to control both the intensity and polarization profile of the output mode. In particular, we show laser oscillation on a superposition of Laguerre-Gaussian modes of zero radial and nonzero azimuthal index in both the scalar and vector regimes. Such complex light fields created directly from the source could find applications in fiber injection, materials processing and in simulating quantum processes.

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Role of cavity degeneracy for high-order mode excitation in end-pumped solid-state lasers

Cited by 22 publications

References 20 publications

Brightness enhancement in a solid-state laser by mode transformation

Brightness enhancement in a solid-state laser by mode transformation

Controlling light’s helicity at the source: orbital angular momentum states from lasers

Radially polarized cylindrical vector beams from a monolithic microchip laser

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