Theoretical simulations of protective thin film Fabry-Pérot filters for integrated optical elements of diode pumped alkali lasers (DPAL)

Abstract

The lifetime of Diode-Pumped Alkali Lasers (DPALs) is limited by damage initiated by reaction of the glass envelope of its gain medium with rubidium vapor. Rubidium is absorbed into the glass and the rubidium cations diffuse through the glass structure, breaking bridging Si-O bonds. A damage-resistant thin film was developed enhancing high-optical transmission at natural rubidium resonance input and output laser beam wavelengths of 780 nm and 795 nm, while protecting the optical windows of the gain cell in a DPAL. The methodology developed here can be readily modified for simulation of expected transmission performance at input pump and output laser wavelengths using different combination of thin film materials in a DPAL. High coupling efficiency of the light through the gas cell was accomplished by matching the air-glass and glass-gas interfaces at the appropriate wavelengths using a dielectric stack of high and low index of refraction materials selected to work at the laser energies and protected from the alkali metal vapor in the gain cell. Thin films as oxides of aluminum, zirconium, tantalum, and silicon were selected allowing the creation of Fabry-Perot optical filters on the optical windows achieving close to 100% laser transmission in a solid optic combination of window and highly reflective mirror. This approach allows for the development of a new whole solid optic laser.