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The Generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams for High-precision Interferometry
Published on: August 12, 2013
Mode properties of an external-cavity laser with Gaussian gain
1Laser and Optics Research Center, Department of Physics, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado 80840, USA. carl.maes@usafa.af.mil
Optics Letters
|February 5, 2004
Abstract:
We analyze the mode properties of a laser with a Gaussian gain profile by using the beam propagation method. The resonance properties of the Petermann K factor and the M2 beam quality are shown to be related in the vicinity of degenerate cavity geometries. K is unity for a confocal cavity, even under conditions with strong gain guiding, while M2 is a maximum.

