Abstract

The beam quality of solid state lasers with high average power is limited by the wave front distortions caused by the active material. Thermal lensing and birefringence of the laser rods at high pump powers are the most disturbing effects. Consequently, the repetition rate of high power pulsed laser systems and the pump power cannot be varied in a wide range without changing the transversal mode structure or even the whole configuration of the system.

© 1992 Optical Society of America