SUPER-GAUSSIAN LASER INTENSITY OUTPUT FORMATION BY MEANS OF ADAPTIVE OPTICS

An optical resonator using an intracavity adaptive mirror with three c oncentric rings of controlling electrodes, which produc low loss and l arge beamwidth super-Gaussian output of order 4, 6, 8, is analyzed. An inverse propagation method is used to determine the appropriate shape of the adaptive mirror. The mirror reproduces the shape with minimal RMS error by combining weights of experimentally measured response fun ctions of the mirror sample. The voltages applied to each mirror elect rode are calculated. Practical design parameters such as construction of an adaptive mirror, Fresnel numbers, and geometric factor are discu ssed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B,V. All rights reserved.