POLARIZATION STATES OF ANNULAR PATTERN IN A NEARLY-ISOTROPIC LASER RESONATOR

Citation
A. Labate et al., POLARIZATION STATES OF ANNULAR PATTERN IN A NEARLY-ISOTROPIC LASER RESONATOR, Optics communications, 141(3-4), 1997, pp. 150-156
Citations number
27
Categorie Soggetti
Optics
Journal title
ISSN journal
00304018
Volume
141
Issue
3-4
Year of publication
1997
Pages
150 - 156
Database
ISI
SICI code
0030-4018(1997)141:3-4<150:PSOAPI>2.0.ZU;2-3
Abstract
We investigate the polarization properties of the annular pattern in a CO2 laser designed to preserve a good cylindrical symmetry. We found that this pattern can show two different polarization states. The firs t one corresponds to a superposition of two independent Gauss-Hermite modes with linear and orthogonal polarizations. The second one is a li nearly polarized state. A simple model, including anisotropies both fo r the cavity losses and the detuning, can explain the observed transit ion between these two states. We also provide an interpretation of the interplay between polarization states and corresponding spatial patte rns. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.