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Adaptive mirror effects on the performance of annular resonators
Applied Optics
|March 11, 2010
Summary
Adaptive optics can correct mirror errors in laser resonators. Even small mirror misfigures (lambda/20) causing poor far-field patterns can be fixed using adaptive ring axicons to compensate for static errors.
Area of Science:
- Optical Engineering
- Laser Physics
- Adaptive Optics
Background:
- Static mirror misfigures in resonators with annular gain regions can significantly degrade far-field on-axis intensity.
- Such degradation impacts the performance and precision of laser systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of static mirror misfigures on far-field intensity in annular gain resonators.
- To demonstrate the effectiveness of adaptive optical elements in mitigating these misfigure-induced aberrations.
Main Methods:
- Utilized computational studies to simulate the effects of azimuthal static mirror misfigures.
- Introduced an adaptive ring axicon in the resonator's optical path.
- Deformed the adaptive ring axicon to actively compensate for a static misfigure on a rear cone element.
Main Results:
- Small static mirror misfigures (as low as lambda/20) were shown to cause severe degradation in far-field on-axis intensity.
- The use of an adaptive ring axicon dramatically improved the poor far-field pattern.
- The adaptive element successfully compensated for the static misfigure of the rear resonator element.
Conclusions:
- Adaptive optical elements are crucial for maintaining high far-field intensity in resonators susceptible to static mirror errors.
- Adaptive ring axicons offer a viable solution for correcting misfigure-induced aberrations in laser resonators with annular gain regions.
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