Xiao Zhu

Analytical approach to thermal lensing in end-pumped Yb:YAG thin-disk laser

Thermal lensing in the thin-disk laser influences the output beam quality and optical efficiency significantly. In this paper, an analytical approach is taken to study the production mechanisms, features, and influences of thermal lensing in the end-pumped thin-disk laser. We calculate the distributions of temperature, stress, strain, and expansion in the disk and the curvature of the crystal using an analytic method. The expressions of the thermal lens focal length depending on the radius are presented. The optical path difference, a major cause of thermal lensing, is induced by the thermo-optical effect, the photoelastic effect, and inhomogeneous distribution of thermal expansion and the excited population. Thermal lensing is found to be aspheric with undesired aberrations and birefringence effects. Furthermore, a convex mirror due to the axial temperature gradient occurs in a free disk, and the convex mirror is found to be spherical in the center region of the disk. Based on the results of our analysis, the aspect ratio and size of the laser mode of the gain region may be adjusted to limit the damaging effects of thermal lensing.

Modeling of end-pumped Yb:YAG thin-disk lasers with nonuniform temperature distribution

A plane wave model with nonuniform temperature distribution in the thin-disk crystal is developed to describe the dynamic behavior of an end-pumped Yb:YAG thin-disk laser. A set of couple-rate equations and 2D stationary heat-conduction equations are derived. The stable temperature distribution in the disk crystal is calculated using a numerical iterative method. The analytic expression is capable of dealing with more practical laser systems than previous works on this subject as it allows for nonuniform temperature distribution in the disk crystal. Based on these results, we examined laser output intensity as a function of pump intensity, dopant concentration, resonator coupler reflectivity, crystal thickness and temperature of cooling liquid.

Calibration of a laser galvanometric scanning system by adapting a camera model

We propose a new calibration method for a laser galvanometric scanning (LGS) system by adapting the camera model to model the LGS system. The similarity between the camera system and the LGS system has been investigated and exploited. The distortion parameters are acquired by solving a nonlinear least squares problem of 12 coefficients using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. The efficiency of the calibration is improved. Experiments are conducted to verify the proposed model.

Analytical model of thermal effect and optical path difference in end-pumped Yb:YAG thin disk laser

An analytical model of the thermal effect and optical path difference (OPD) of a thin disk laser is developed with the combination of the analytical method and commercial finite element analysis software. The distributions of temperature, stress, strain, and OPD caused by temperature gradient, axial thermal strain (bulging), thermal strain-induced birefringence, and deformation are obtained. Based on the analytical model, the production mechanisms, features, and influence of OPD in an end-pumped thin disk laser are discussed, which make the causes of spherical and aspherical parts of the OPD more obvious. Furthermore, the OPD including the spherical and aspherical parts of the thin disk crystal is discussed for various pumping intensities.

A multi-pass pumping scheme for thin disk lasers with good anti-disturbance ability

A multi-pass pumping scheme for thin disk lasers consisting of dual parabolic mirrors with conjugated relationship is presented. The anti-disturbance ability of pumping is analyzed by ray tracing method under different kinds of disturbances. Both theoretical and experiment results show that disturbances in this system wont lead to a misalignment of each pumping spot, but only the position of superposed pumping spot on disk crystal will be changed. Compared with the multi-pass pumping scheme consisting of parabolic mirror and folding prisms, this pumping scheme has a better anti-disturbance ability.

Numerical analysis of an end-pumped Yb:YAG thin disk laser with variation of a fractional thermal load

An analytical model is developed to describe the dynamic behavior of an end-pumped Yb:YAG thin disk laser. Within the model, the rate equations, including the nonradiative relaxation process, are calculated taking into account the dependence of the fractional thermal load on the temperature of the thin disk crystal and intracavity laser intensity. The fractional thermal load is analyzed, or can be evaluated clearly, under lasing or nonlasing conditions. The stable temperature and fractional thermal load in a thin disk crystal for different radiative quantum efficiencies are obtained using the numerical iterative method. Furthermore, the dependence of the laser output intensity on variables such as pumping intensity, coupler reflectivity, radiative quantum efficiency, and the temperature of thin disk crystal is discussed.

Analytical approach of laser beam propagation in the hollow polygonal light pipe

An analytical method of researching the light distribution properties on the output end of a hollow n-sided polygonal light pipe and a light source with a Gaussian distribution is developed. The mirror transformation matrices and a special algorithm of removing void virtual images are created to acquire the location and direction vector of each effective virtual image on the entrance plane. The analytical method is demonstrated by Monte Carlo ray tracing. At the same time, four typical cases are discussed. The analytical results indicate that the uniformity of light distribution varies with the structural and optical parameters of the hollow n-sided polygonal light pipe and light source with a Gaussian distribution. The analytical approach will be useful to design and choose the hollow n-sided polygonal light pipe, especially for high-power laser beam homogenization techniques.

Analytical model of optical path difference in an end-pumped Yb:YAG thin-disk laser with nonuniform pumping light

An analytical model of the thermal effect and optical path difference (OPD) of a thin-disk laser is developed by an arbitrary form pumping spot. Based on the analytical model, the distribution of temperature, stress, and strain can be derived using a super-Gaussian form pumping spot. The total OPD caused by temperature gradient, axial thermal strain, thermal strain-induced birefringence, and deformation of the thin-disk crystal is discussed for different super-Gaussian factors and is separated into spherical and aspherical parts. The analytical results show that the aspherical part of the OPD is the main reason leading to the decrease of the laser beam quality and it is closely related to super-Gaussian factors, which are very useful for thin-disk laser design and evaluation.

Optical model and optimal output coupler for a continuous wave Yb:YAG thin-disk laser with multiple-disk configuration

This article presents the fundamental principles of operational performance of a continuous wave (cw) thin-disk laser with multiple disks in one resonator. Based on the model of an end-pumped Yb:YAG thin-disk laser with nonuniform temperature distribution, the effect of the multiple disks in one resonator is considered. The analytic expressions are derived to analyze the laser output intensity, laser intensity in the resonator, threshold intensity, and the optical efficiency of a thin-disk laser with multiple disks arranged in series. The dependence of output coupler reflectivity and the number of thin disks on various parameters are investigated, which are useful to determine the optimal output coupler reflectivity of the thin-disk lasers and control the laser intensity in the resonator.

Design of homogeneous laser-line-beam generators

Abstract. We present a laser beam shaper designed to obtain a homogeneous line beam. A beam shaping system was designed based on cutting and rearranging optics, using two groups of plane parallel plates. The analysis of beam uniformity was performed by use of ray tracing simulation through ZEMAX software and experimental validation. The simulation results show that in the focal plane, a beam width of 1 mm (@95%Imax) and a uniformity of 90.2% are achieved in one direction, and a Gaussian profile with a beam width of 0.06 mm (FWHM) is achieved in the other direction.