Beam shaping of a multimode high-energy laser

Vance A. Hedin; Burton D. O'Neil; John H. Erkkila

doi:10.1117/12.58932

1 June 1992 Beam shaping of a multimode high-energy laser

Vance A. Hedin, Burton D. O'Neil, John H. Erkkila

Proceedings Volume 1625, Design, Modeling, and Control of Laser Beam Optics; (1992) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.58932
Event: OE/LASE '92, 1992, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

The output beam profile of a laser is the consequence of an optical resonator that is usually designed to optimize laser power. For a specific application, however, the intensity profile may lack the desired shape. An optical design that produces the transformation of the nominal 5.2 inch diameter output of a stable, multi-mode, high energy CO2 laser into a narrow line of width 0.005 X 1.0 inches with extremely high brightness (> 90 Kw/cm2) is discussed. The number of modes and power produced by the Electric Discharge Coaxial Laser (EDCL II) at the Phillips Laboratory were controlled by resonator design and intracavity apertures. Gaussian beam propagation, diffractive propagation, and geometric skew aspheric raytrace techniques were used to design an optical train which was fully corrected for all off axis aberrations. The novel use of a cylindrical mirror combined with a slit aperture reimaging technique produced the final line image. Included are measured experimental results that confirmed the design approach.

Citation Download Citation

Vance A. Hedin, Burton D. O'Neil, and John H. Erkkila "Beam shaping of a multimode high-energy laser", Proc. SPIE 1625, Design, Modeling, and Control of Laser Beam Optics, (1 June 1992); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.58932

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available