Diffractive optical element for mode shaping of a Nd:YAG laser

James R. Leger, Diana Chen, Zhong Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

181 Scopus citations

Abstract

A diffractive laser cavity mirror is described that can customize the amplitude and phase of a laser mode. The design of this diffractive element is shown for a square, flat-topped fundamental mode. The laser cavity has a theoretical fundamental mode loss of only 0.08% and a second-order mode loss of 48.2%, resulting in high modal discrimination. The fabricated mirror is tested in a Nd:YAG laser system. The resulting square flat-topped mode has an rms variation of 1.5% over the two-dimensional flat-topped region and a large discrimination against higher-order modes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)108-110
Number of pages3
JournalOptics Letters
Volume19
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 15 1994

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