THEORETICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF A SLAB CO2-LASER RESONATOR WITH GRADED-PHASE MIRROR

We present a theoretical analysis and numerical computations concernin g a slab laser with graded-phase mirror supporting a quasi super-Gauss ian fundamental mode making it possible to optimise the extraction of the energy stored in the amplifier medium. We investigate the capabili ty of such a device to support a stable fundamental mode when the cavi ty length is short and the aperture wide and we point out the limit of the fundamental mode stability in terms of misalignment error with re spect to the aperture width. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.