Abstract

Virtually all current laser systems employ conventional flat or spherical optical components to form the optical resonator. With the dramatic advances in microfabrication technology, it is now possible to make diffractive and microoptic elements with sufficient precision for use in laser resonators. These new elements can be used as end mirrors and intracavity filters with arbitrary surface figures, greatly expanding the design space of laser resonators. In this talk, we will review the state-of-the-art for these unconventional laser resonators.

© 1998 IEEE