Beam propagation analysis in unstable laser resonators (ULR): low to high magnification

Abstract

Lasers employing unstable resonators usually produce a doughnut-shaped intensity distribution in the near-field. In this paper, we present the application of a new model in characterising the output beams of unstable laser resonators (ULR) of different magnification (M=80, 200, and 400). As an experimental example, the output beam of Copper Vapour Laser (CVL) is characterised using this model.