Lasers

Waveguide operation of a wide-aperture Ar⁺ laser

S. A. Babin, T. Yu. Eremenko, A. E. Kuklin, S. V. Khorev

Institute of Automation and Electrometry, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk

Abstract: A ring structure of the profile of a laser beam, observed in a wide-aperture unstable resonator, appeared due to reflection of the intracavity beam from the discharge channel walls. The geometric-optics approximation was used to develop a model which was in agreement with the experimental results, including the divergence and the ring propagation angles. Detailed investigations were made of near-concentric and confocal unstable resonators. The eigenmodes corresponding to the formation of a closed path by the beam in one and two round trips through the resonator were recorded. In the waveguide regime the output power in the form of blue–green Ar⁺ lines was ~5 W.

PACS: 42.55.Lt, 42.79.Gn, 42.60.Jf

Received: 06.12.1993

 English version: Quantum Electronics, 1994, 24:9, 759–762

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