Stable ring resonator with bidirectional passes through the gain medium

Alan H. Paxton; Harold C. Miller

doi:10.1117/12.2046496

7 March 2014 Stable ring resonator with bidirectional passes through the gain medium

Alan H. Paxton, Harold C. Miller

Proceedings Volume 8960, Laser Resonators, Microresonators, and Beam Control XVI; 89601Z (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2046496
Event: SPIE LASE, 2014, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Ring resonators have unique properties that are sometimes desirable. Spatial hole burning is eliminated. Beam transformation, such as image rotation which may reduce the magnitude of certain aberrations, can be implemented in a traveling-wave region. There is a drawback, however. As usually constructed, a ring resonator has half as many passes through the gain medium as can be achieved with a standing-wave resonator. This may have a detrimental effect on laser efficiency. We have constructed a type of ring resonator that allows counterpropagating collinear passes through the gain medium, while there is also a section with a unidirectional beam. The resonator includes a polarizing beam splitter. The linear polarization is transformed to the orthogonal state by optical elements at the two ends of the region with counter-propagating beams. The beams passing through the gain medium in opposite directions are linearly polarized with orthogonal states.

Citation Download Citation

Alan H. Paxton and Harold C. Miller "Stable ring resonator with bidirectional passes through the gain medium", Proc. SPIE 8960, Laser Resonators, Microresonators, and Beam Control XVI, 89601Z (7 March 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2046496

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