The applications of aspheric feedback mirror in extended-cavity laser resonators

Abstract

An extended-cavity resonator with an aspheric third mirror aligned collinear to a standing-wave two-mirror resonator is studied. A number of benefits of this new cavity design such as improved mode selectivity and mode shaping were predicted by simulation. An experiment was performed with a Nd:YVO 4 laser system. With an optimized aspheric third mirror, this three-mirror solid-state laser has an experimentally measured modal discrimination of 1.43 and oscillates in the designed fundamental Gaussian mode. The M 2 of the cavity mode was measured to be 1.02. Applications of aspheric feedback mirrors in other advanced laser resonators are also briefly discussed.