Laser arrangement consisting of an astable optical resonator and an additional partially-reflective surface

摘要

A large mode volume and high beam quality can be achieved using astable optical resonators. However, good beam quality is possible only if the output losses are low, so that these resonators can be used efficiently only in the case of active media having high gain. By arranging an additional partially reflective surface within or outside the astable resonator, the output losses can be reduced without adversely affecting the beam quality. This reduction in the losses results primarily from excitation of the convergent wave. Using this arrangement, even lasers having active media of large diameter and a low small signal gain can be implemented with high efficiency with diffraction-limited beam quality.