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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

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Construction and Characterization of External Cavity Diode Lasers for Atomic Physics
Published on: April 24, 2014
Optical loss and thermal distortion in gas-laser brewster windows
Applied Optics
|January 16, 2010
Abstract:
The important sources of optical loss in the Brewster windows of a gas laser are outlined, and the effects of this loss on the performance of the laser are described. Particular attention is paid to thermal focusing effects which occur when absorbing films are formed on the Brewster windows of high-power lasers. A semiquantitative theory is developed which shows that absorptive loss in the windows sets an upper limit on the intracavity intensity of a Brewster window laser.

