Effects of spherical aberration on laser beam quality

Anthony E. Siegman; Joseph Ruff

doi:10.1117/12.143847

22 April 1993 Effects of spherical aberration on laser beam quality

Anthony E. Siegman, Joseph Ruff

Proceedings Volume 1834, Laser Energy Distribution Profiles: Measurement and Applications; (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.143847
Event: Applications in Optical Science and Engineering, 1992, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

We present simple formulas for the degradation in beam quality factor M² of a laser beam caused by quartic phase aberrations, such as may occur in spherically aberrated optical components, thermally aberrated rods or windows, or divergent beams passing through planar dielectric interfaces, as in unstable-resonator diode lasers. The beam quality degradation in all cases is found to be small for beams smaller than a certain critical spot size w_q, but degrades as M² approximately equals (w/w_q)⁴ for beam sizes greater than w_q. Experimental results confirming the beam quality degradation from an uncorrected plano- convex lens are also given.

Citation Download Citation

Anthony E. Siegman and Joseph Ruff "Effects of spherical aberration on laser beam quality", Proc. SPIE 1834, Laser Energy Distribution Profiles: Measurement and Applications, (22 April 1993); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.143847

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