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A household microwave and lasers are examples of standing electromagnetic waves in a cavity. When two conducting metal plates are placed parallel at the nodal planes, it creates a cavity where standing waves are formed. The cavity between the two planes is analogous to a stretched string held at the points x = 0 and x = L. Here, the distance 'L' between the two planes must be an integer multiple of half of the wavelength. The wavelengths that satisfy this condition are given by:

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Related Experiment Video

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Unstable laser resonator modes.

R L Sanderson, W Streifer

|January 15, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study analyzes unstable laser resonators, revealing that mode competition arises because unstable modes change their loss ordering with reflector size. This research provides insights into laser resonator behavior and mode dynamics.

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Area of Science:

Optics and Photonics
Laser Physics
Computational Physics

Background:

Unstable laser resonators are crucial for high-power laser systems.
Understanding mode patterns and losses is essential for resonator design and performance.
Previous analyses often simplified reflector geometry or ignored finite size effects.

Purpose of the Study:

To determine mode patterns and losses for unstable laser resonators with finite, rectangular, spherical reflectors.
To investigate the underlying causes of mode competition in such resonators.
To develop a computational method for analyzing complex resonator modes.

Main Methods:

Analysis of the uniform intensity mode using the Cornu spiral.
Gaussian quadrature integration to convert integral equations into matrix equations.
Solving matrix equations using the ALLMIAT algorithm on a digital computer.

Main Results:

Simultaneous determination of multiple laser resonator modes.
Demonstration that mode competition occurs due to unstable modes not retaining their relative loss ordering with changing reflector size.
Exploration of perturbation calculations using infinite mirror solutions as expansion functions.

Conclusions:

Finite reflector geometry significantly impacts mode patterns and losses in unstable resonators.
The observed mode competition is a direct consequence of dynamic changes in mode loss ordering.
The computational approach provides a robust method for analyzing complex laser resonator modes.