Unstable resonators with 90° beam rotation

Paxton, Alan H.; Latham, W. P.

doi:10.1364/ao.25.002939

Cited by 41 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The UR90 resonator of Kuprenyuk et al 4,5 is well suited for gain media with large cross-sectional area and with round-trip gain that is too low for the use of a conventional unstable resonator. A sketch of a UR90 is shown in Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unstable ring resonator with bidirectional propagation through the gain medium: analysis

Paxton

2011

SPIE Proceedings

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Unique properties of unstable ring resonators are sometimes useful. A collimated beam in the gain medium may be desirable. Spatial hole burning is eliminated. Beam rotation may be helpful. There is a drawback, however. As usually constructed, a ring resonator has half as many passes through the gain medium as can be achieved with a standing-wave resonator. We have performed a geometrical and a wave-optics numerical simulation of a type of ring resonator that allows counter-propagating collinear passes through the gain medium, while there is also a section with a unidirectional beam. The resonator includes a polarizing beam splitter. The linear polarization is transformed to the orthogonal state by optical elements at the two ends of the region with counter-propagating beams. The wave-optics simulation treats a UR90, for which the output beam is unobscured.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unstable ring resonator with bidirectional propagation through the gain medium: analysis

Paxton

2011

SPIE Proceedings

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“…High brightness operation suggests the application of unstable resonator geometries for a realization with reasonable technical effort. In literature, different resonator configurations 5,6 are studied to enhance the COIL beam quality, and several sophisticated resonator concepts are successfully realized 7,8,9 . The basis of most considerations is the classical confocal unstable resonator.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Investigation of a Hybrid Optical Resonator for Medium Energy COIL

Gruenewald

Handke

Hall

et al. 2007

38th Plasmadynamics and Lasers Conference

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High brightness laser radiation of chemical oxygen iodine lasers (COIL) requires resonator types especially adapted to low gain medium and rectangular cavity geometry. For medium energy class lasers, those resonators suffer from small magnification numbers and therefore often imply sophisticated optical concepts. Selected solutions should not inhibit the demands of a field deployment of the laser system. Outside the laboratory additional nonoptical properties like compactness, ruggedness and ease of operation become important. Resonators that enable reliable operation under field conditions should be composed of a reasonable number of optical components and a straightforward architecture. Based on the amplification characteristics of a 10 kW-class COIL, off-axis hybrid resonator configurations are designed and pre-evaluated theoretically. The most promising candidates are technically realized and applied to the DLR-COIL device. The resonators are tested for their alignment sensitivity and brightness parameters. Positive branch and negative branch hybrid resonators are discussed. Particularly, the negative branch hybrid resonator meets the above challenges. A further promising design approach, the multi-pass hybrid resonator, will be depicted within this paper.

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“…Therefore, several types of unstable resonators have been proposed for COIL, including ring resonators, resonators with multi passes through the gain medium, and resonators with beam rotation. 2,3 For a 10-kW-class COIL numerical studies have been performed on a hybrid resonator configuration. 1 A hybrid resonator combines a stable with an unstable resonator.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid resonator configurations for COIL

Duschek¹,

Handke²,

Hall³

et al. 2006

SPIE Proceedings

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Various schemes of geometrical coupling between optical resonator and gain medium were investigated for a 10-kW class Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser (COIL). Starting from theory, different types of resonator layouts were designed and optimized for COIL with a rectangular gain medium and an output coupling of about 10%. Hybrid resonators match these coupling conditions more easily than concentric unstable resonators. Compared to the negative branch type, the positive branch hybrid resonator shows very high sensitivity to the optical alignment in the unstable direction but avoids a focal line within the resonator. The obtained output power of both hybrid resonators is compared to the output power of the COIL device in a conventional stable resonator configuration. Measured margins for the sensitivity of resonator setup and alignment were found in close agreement with numerical calculations. Power density distributions were measured in the near field and in the far field. The divergence of the emitted laser beam in the unstable direction was nearly diffraction limited.

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Unstable resonators with 90° beam rotation

Cited by 41 publications

References 15 publications

Unstable ring resonator with bidirectional propagation through the gain medium: analysis

Unstable ring resonator with bidirectional propagation through the gain medium: analysis

Design and Investigation of a Hybrid Optical Resonator for Medium Energy COIL

Hybrid resonator configurations for COIL

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