Abstract

High-power oscillation was achieved with radial or azimuthal polarization at 480 W and $M^2=5.4$ using pump chambers that induced $0.3\lambda$ of balanced spherical aberration. Measurement of wavefront inside the resonator showed that the oscillating mode could flip the sign of the aberration in order to preserve itself in a round trip. Analysis showed that the lasing mode, which has a two-ring structure, is the lowest-order radially polarized mode of the resonator. Spherical aberration correction was employed and allowed the resonator performance to be significantly improved to 600 W at $M^2=3.5$.

© 2010 Optical Society of America

Effects of thermally induced aberrations on radially and azimuthally polarized beams

Yaakov Lumer, Inon Moshe, Avi Meir, Yotam Paiken, Galina Machavariani, and Steven Jackel
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 24(9) 2279-2286 (2007)

Correction of spherical and azimuthal aberrations in radially polarized beams from strongly pumped laser rods

Inon Moshe, Steven Jackel, and Avi Meir
Appl. Opt. 44(36) 7823-7827 (2005)

Birefringence-induced bifocusing for selection of radially or azimuthally polarized laser modes

Galina Machavariani, Yaakov Lumer, Inon Moshe, Avi Meir, Steven Jackel, and Nir Davidson
Appl. Opt. 46(16) 3304-3310 (2007)

Production of radially or azimuthally polarized beams in solid-state lasers and the elimination of thermally induced birefringence effects

Inon Moshe, Steven Jackel, and Avi Meir
Opt. Lett. 28(10) 807-809 (2003)

Selective oscillation of radially and azimuthally polarized laser beam induced by thermal birefringence and lensing

Akihiko Ito, Yuichi Kozawa, and Shunichi Sato
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 26(4) 708-712 (2009)