Abstract

A detailed experimental investigation of the polarization characteristics of a diode laser side-pumped Nd:YAG laser has been performed. A Brewster plate inserted into the cavity resulted in a decrease of 50% of the output power that is due to depolarization. A thin-film polarizer (TFP) was introduced into the cavity and the depolarization loss served as the output coupling. By introduction of a quarter-wave plate (QWP) the output coupling rate and the beam shape were improved. An analytical expression for the output coupling rate of a cavity containing a TFP and a QWP has been derived. The experimental results are in good agreement with the simplified theoretical analysis.

© 1997 Optical Society of America

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