Design and application of aspherical resonators for high-power CO2 lasers

Thomas F. E. Henning; Uwe Habich; Norbert Wolf; Marcus Scholl; Reinhart Poprawe

doi:10.1117/12.308101

13 May 1998 Design and application of aspherical resonators for high-power CO₂lasers

Thomas F. E. Henning, Uwe Habich, Norbert Wolf, Marcus Scholl, Reinhart Poprawe

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3267, Laser Resonators; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.308101
Event: Optoelectronics and High-Power Lasers and Applications, 1998, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Aspherical resonators were developed for an industrial high- power CO₂ laser with a rated output power of 20 kW. The task of the aspherical resonators is to perform intra-cavity beam shaping in order to generate process-adapted laser beams for laser materials processing. To evaluate the capability of aspherical resonators for lasers materials processing their performance is compared to conventional spherical and unstable resonators. The times-diffraction- limit factor M² obtained with an aspherical resonator has a value of 6.3 and is comparable to a spherical reference resonator. Compared to the spherical and the unstable resonator the electro-optical efficiency can be improved up to 50%. In the far field a considerable enhancement of the peak intensity compared to the spherical resonator is obtained. Application of the aspherical resonator for welding demonstrates the essential importance of this resonator type for materials processing.

Citation Download Citation

Thomas F. E. Henning, Uwe Habich, Norbert Wolf, Marcus Scholl, and Reinhart Poprawe "Design and application of aspherical resonators for high-power CO₂lasers", Proc. SPIE 3267, Laser Resonators, (13 May 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.308101

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