全固态Nd:YAG激光器热效应及输出光束波前像差分析

高功率全固态激光器的诸多腔内扰动因素均会直接影响到激光输出功率和光束质量。首先采用传输矩阵方法简要讨论了在稳定腔情形下热透镜焦距与本征模式光斑尺寸的关系。进一步采用Hartmann-Shack波前传感器和模式法波前重构,对二极管抽运全固态声光调Q激光器输出倍频光束质量进行了分析,得到前35阶Zernike像差系数、波前峰谷值和均方根等畸变参量,计算还可得到点扩散函数分布和环围能量曲线等,从而全面了解输出光束质量和动态像差特性。分析表明输出倍频光的波前Zernike像差主要集中在前15阶,由于晶体热效应及腔内其它扰动因素的影响,较显著波前像差有离焦系数Z_3、低阶像散Z_4和Z_5,以及球差Z_(10)等。     

非均匀激光辐照下硅镜热变形对光束传输特性的影响

 使用有限元法计算了硅镜在DF化学激光器非稳腔输出的中空非均匀激光辐照下镜面温升和反射面面形随时间变化的特性,使用65阶Zernike多项式对镜面面形进行了曲面拟合,使用光线追迹的方法计算了平行光束经不同数量硅镜反射后的光束波前分布PV值、Strehl比和Zernike像差系数随时间变化的特性。计算结果表明：在典型的DF激光器输出的中空方形光束辐照下,硅反射镜的热变形将使反射光束产生波前畸变,波前畸变中,y方向像散项占据主要地位,其次是离焦项;随着激光系统中反射镜面数量的增加,高阶像差系数将逐渐增大,且波前PV值与反射次数成线性关系。     

腔内像散扰动对正支共焦腔模式影响的数值分析

 针对激光器出光过程中腔内像差扰动带来的输出光束质量和光束能量下降问题,分析了腔内像差扰动对非稳腔模式的影响,并采用数值迭代法计算了理想情形和腔内像散扰动对无源正支共焦腔输出模式强度和相位分布的影响,进一步采用Zernike模式法对光束相位进行了像差拟合,得到了前35阶Zernike像差系数、点扩散函数(PSF)分布和环围能量曲线,计算了腔内像散扰动量与远场Strehl比的关系。结果表明：对小菲涅耳数正支共焦腔,腔内像散扰动对输出光束强度和相位分布均有明显影响,相位分布中一些高阶Zernike像差也有所增大。因此在进行腔内像差校正时,应优先考虑此类像差的校正。     

相位共轭谐振腔改善激光器波前像差特性研究

在高功率激光器中采用相位共轭谐振腔技术可以补偿动态波前像差,在校正畸变的输出光束方面有极其重要的应用。分析了相位共轭腔的模式结构特性及稳定性,在实际高功率激光器中采用相位共轭谐振腔,使得激光系统的光束质量得到了极大改善。通过实验数据分析,提出在激光器系统中描述光束质量只用PV值和RMS值来量度是不足的,并利用结合光束环围能量分布图像和平均离焦系数来评价系统光束质量。实验结果表明,采用相位共轭谐振腔使得焦平面环围能量更为集中,同时平均离焦系数更接近零,结合上述方法评价系统光束质量更具实际意义。     

腔内倾斜扰动对正支共焦腔本征模式的影响

针对激光器出光过程中腔内像差扰动带来的光束质量下降问题，分析了正支共焦腔腔内不同位置倾斜扰动对本征模式的影响，采用数值迭代法计算了理想状态及腔内不同位置倾斜扰动状态下的本征模式、相位Zernike像差拟合系数.结果表明：对大小给定的扰动，相位相对敏感性从凸面镜到凹面镜逐渐增加，且腔模倾斜像差增大的同时还将导致离焦、像散等高阶像差的增大，因此作腔内补偿时，应使补偿平面尽可能靠近凹面镜.     

37单元双压电片变形镜板条激光光束净化

为了校正板条激光器输出光束波前像差,改善输出光束质量,提出了基于37单元双压电片变形镜的板条激光光束净化系统。采用柱面反射式单向扩束器使主振荡功率放大结构板条激光器输出光束尺寸与37单元双压电片变形镜有效口径相匹配,利用随机并行梯度下降算法控制双压电片变形镜面形,进行波前像差闭环校正,校正后光束远场归一化桶中功率提高到净化前的2~3倍。     

基于变形镜本征模式和远场测量的光束净化

利用波前传感器对光束进行净化的自适应光学系统是目前提高光束质量的常用技术,但在实际应用中,该技术需要波前传感器,系统复杂,体积庞大,同时需要较高性能信标源。为解决上述问题,提出了一种基于变形镜本征模式和远场光斑特征分析的无波前自适应光学系统,用于校正激光器输出的方形光束。将变形镜影响函数进行本征模式分解,并用远场光斑的均方半径作为评价函数,建立了畸变波前的模式系数与评价函数之间的关系,通过测量评价函数获得模式系数用于求解校正电压,实现波前共轭校正。仿真校正和实验验证结果表明,该方法可以有效实现静态像差校正,提高远场光斑的能量集中度。     

激光辐照下非稳腔镜变形对激光模式的影响

 分析了正支虚共焦非稳腔中腔镜变形对激光模式的影响，采用时间离散化、快速傅里叶变换（FFT）和有限元分析(FEA)方法解决腔镜变形和激光模式两者之间的耦合问题。计算结果表明，随着激光器工作时间的增加，腔镜温升和变形相应增大，谐振腔模式变差，输出光场相位均匀性变差，呈现散焦现象，输出光束质量下降。实验验证了激光器输出光束质量随出光时间的延长而逐渐变坏。     

变形镜结构参数对高功率激光相位特性的影响

在高功率连续激光辐照下,变形镜(DM)表面产生的热形变会对入射激光引入附加相位畸变,进而降低光束质量。利用有限元分析软件ANSYS建立了变形镜模型,分析比较了变形镜与高反镜热形变的特点,并讨论了变形镜结构参数对入射激光相位特性的影响。研究结果表明:与高反镜相比,变形镜的热形变更为明显;变形镜极头间距越小,热形变带来的高频相位畸变越多;极头长度对高频成分的影响较大,极头长度越短,热形变带来的高频成分越多,因而适当增加极头长度能够降低热形变带来的高频相位畸变;增大极头直径能使高频畸变所占比例有所降低,但会减弱变形镜的校正能力,因而在实际设计时应综合考虑。计算结果可为变形镜的参数优化设计提供一定参考价值。     

水冷式离焦变形镜技术研究

根据非稳腔薄片激光器腔内离焦的特点和主动校正的应用需求,针对性地设计离焦变形镜,对激光器腔内离焦进行实时补偿。采用压电陶瓷作为驱动器,圆形镜面圆心处设置1个驱动器,圆周上均布4个驱动器的5通道布局模式,仿真分析了筋板厚度和镜片厚度对离焦的校正效果影响,在优化设计的基础上研制出水冷式离焦变形镜,其静态面形PV值为0.34 m,波前动态范围为16 m。在离焦变形镜和二维变形镜组合模式下进行了薄片激光器强光主动光学校正试验,谐振腔腔内像差PV值从6.76减小到1.44,光束质量从19.5提高到6.5,有效地改善了输出光束质量,验证了离焦变形镜对非稳腔薄片激光器离焦校正的有效性和实用性。     

角锥棱镜阵列谐振腔的输出特性

 角锥棱镜阵列具有溯源反射和准相位共轭两大特点,可在一定程度上补偿高平均功率固体激光器的热畸变。但由于这种角锥棱镜阵列自身的缺陷和由它构成的谐振腔输出激光模式众多的特点,限制了其在谐振腔中的应用。分析了角锥棱镜阵列谐振腔产生多模输出的原因,提出了采用腔内滤波的方法实现单模输出。理论模拟和实验研究结果表明：利用该方法可较好地改善阵列角锥棱镜谐振腔的输出特性,获得了近5倍衍射极限的输出。     

高光束质量、高功率稳定性激光器的设计及实验研究

高光束质量、高功率稳定性激光器在激光加工、激光测量等领域具有广泛的用途.为了实现激光器腔内光斑聚焦同时减少色散和体积,人们常常将曲面反射镜用在激光谐振腔中,但光束倾斜入射到曲面反射镜往往会引起像散,从而导致光斑质量恶化,并降低激光器的性能.另一方面,在高功率激光器或超短脉冲激光器中,激光增益介质热透镜焦距的起伏,是导致激光输出功率波动的主要原因之一.针对激光器的像散和功率波动这两个问题,本文提出了一套简单高效的解决方案,在考虑像散补偿和热透镜效应的基础上,基于传播变换圆理论,首次提出一种可实现高光束质量、高功率稳定性激光器谐振腔的设计方法,并对采用该方法所设计出的超短脉冲激光器进行理论与实验研究.研究结果表明,利用该方法设计的激光谐振腔,两端臂像散能够完全被补偿,实验上实现了基模高斯光束输出;当激光晶体热透镜焦距改变时,该方法所设计出的激光谐振腔内各关键位置光斑半径的变化,显著地小于普通谐振腔,在相同外界条件下,其输出激光功率稳定性明显优于普通激光器.     

Beam Combination using Stimulated Brillouin Scattering for the Ultimate High Power-Energy Laser System Operating at High Repetition Rate over 10 Hz for Laser Fusion Driver

After the laser was invented in 1960, a phase conjugation mirror has been respected to be the most fantastic one for the laser resonator composition because it can compensate any distortions of the laser beams occurred by the many inhomogenuities of the laser media and optical components. Among the many phase conjugation configurations, the stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugation mirror is the most simple one and many researchers have tried to utilize it to develop high power/energy laser systems. For realizing a high energy/power laser system the thermal problem is the most difficult to solve, and some researchers suggested a beam combination technique to reduce the thermal load of the big laser media to many small sized ones. To accomplish the beam combination using stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugation mirrors (SBS-PCMs), it is necessary to lock/control the phases of the SBS-PCMs. And some researchers have developed several ways for it, but they can lock the phases of a limited number of beams overlapped at the foci less than 5, or lock the phases by back-seeding technique but it loses the phase conjugation characteristics. For realization of the laser fusion driver, it is necessary to combine more than 10 or 100 beams. And the authors have developed recently a new phase controlling/locking technique which is isolated and independent totally from other beams and it can be applied to an unlimited number of beams in principle.     

Thermal aberrations and high power frequency conversion in a barium nitrate Raman laser

Raman frequency conversion of high average power pulsed Nd:YAG laser radiation into the near IR spectral region in a barium nitrate Raman laser was studied with the emphasis on thermal effects inside the Raman-active medium. The probe-beam technique together with numerical reconstruction, done by integrating the transient heat conduction and paraxial wave equations, revealed dynamics of the induced distortions featuring high-order optical aberrations. By utilizing the Zernike expansion of the reconstructed phase profile and implementing a special focusing geometry of the pump beam, partial compensation of the distortions was realized in a stable configuration of the Raman cavity. Generation of the first-, second-, and third-order Stokes radiation with output power of 17, 9.5, and 5.5 W corresponding to a quantum conversion efficiency of 32, 21, and 13% is reported.     

Pulsed solid-state laser system with fiber phase conjugation and 315 W average output power

Solid-state laser sources with high average output power and high beam quality are required for numerous applications in industry and science. To improve the beam quality, stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) mirrors based on optical phase conjugation are used to compensate for phase distortions in master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) systems. SBS phase conjugation in commercially available silica optical fibers facilitates the construction of high-power solid-state laser systems with high beam quality. Here we present a flash lamp-pumped, passively Q-switched Nd:YAP system which delivers an average output power of 315 W with M²=2.6 at a wavelength of 1.08 μm. Received: 11 July 2001 / Revised version: 28 September 2001 / Published online: 23 November 2001     

200 W双谐振腔组合单向输出准连续绿光激光器

研究了最大平均输出功率达206 W的高功率准连续绿光激光器.利用ABCD定律及高斯光束在腔内的自再现条件,分析了激光晶体热透镜效应及热致双折射效应对谐振腔稳定性和输出光束质量的影响.实验中将两个型号相同的LD侧面泵浦激光模块分别置于一个平-凹V型谐振腔和一个平-凹直腔内,形成两束稳定运转的1 064 nm基频光,经过声光Q开关和倍频晶体后,产生两束倍频光,均到达平面折叠镜,最终由平面折叠镜单向重叠输出.当激光模块的泵浦电流为50 A,声光调Q的重复频率为22.4 kHz时,最大平均输出功率为206 W,最大单脉冲能量为9.2 mJ,脉冲宽度为201 ns,峰值功率为45.8 kW的532 nm绿光输出,倍频效率达到60.2%.激光器2 h工作的功率不稳定度优于2.5%.     

Variable reflectivity unstable resonators for a long pulse XeCl excimer laser

The divergence of a long pulse, low gain XeCl excimer laser has been improved using confocal positive branch unstable resonators with variable reflectivity mirrors as outcouplers. With variable reflectivity unstable resonators, nearly diffraction limited beams are obtained. Variable reflectivity resonators lead to high brightness beams (9.1 10 W/(cm sr)). Different reflection profiles were studied with respect to their influence on the beam quality and the energy extraction.     

Effects of the deformation of reflection volume Bragg gratings on the M-factor of super-Gaussian laser beams

When high-power laser beams pass through a volume Bragg grating (VBG), the surface of VBG occurs distortion because of thermal effects, and it results in the decline of the grating’s performance. Considering distortion of the surface induces differences of the index and period, the scalar wave equations for super-Gaussian (SG) laser beams propagating in the reflection VBG have been solved by using finite-different and sparse matrix methods. The changes of the total power reflection coefficient, the beam width, the far-field beam angle and the M²-factor for the laser beams through the reflection VBG with deformation have been analyzed quantitatively. It can be shown that the deformation of the VBG affects evidently on the intensity and phase distributions, the total power reflection coefficient, the beam width, the far-field divergence angle and the M²-factor. The beam width, the far-field divergence angle, and the M²-factor of the output beams increase significantly with the distortions of the grating. The influence of the distortions of the VBG on the power reflection coefficient, the far-field divergence angle and the M²-factor of the output beams are smaller for higher beam orders.