Enhanced excess noise in laser cavities with tilted mirrors

Enhancement of the transverse excess-noise factor is theoretically predicte d in optical laser cavities with tilted end mirrors and nonuniform transver se loss. In particular, it is shown that in a loss-guided laser close to th e plane-plane geometric instability boundary the excess-noise factor that i s induced by mirror tilting may largely exceed that predicted for the align ed cavity. This excess noise is related to beam walk-off induced by mirror tilting, which makes possible transient amplification of noise in the trans verse plane. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 140.3410, 140. 4780, 270.2500.