Abstract
A solid-state laser cavity is studied where the laser crystal aberrations are corrected by a diffractive optic element. The type of aberration and the location of the correction plate are found to influence the modal performance of the cavity significantly. The largest model discrimination is obtained for axicon-like crystal aberrations and when the correction is performed close to the end mirror. An experiment is performed with a laser-diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser. With no correction, a thermally induced aberration of approximately two waves is measured across the crystal. By using a diffractive corrector plate, the single-mode slope efficiency is increased by a factor of 4, and the total single-mode output power is increased by a factor of 3.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 256-263 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
| Volume | 3729 |
| State | Published - Jan 1 1999 |
| Event | Proceedings of the 1998 International Conference on Optics and Optoelectronics - Silver Jubilee Symposium of the Optical Society of India - Dehradum, India Duration: Dec 9 1998 → Dec 12 1998 |