高功率激光器腔镜热变形对输出光束质量的影响

利用有限元分析法结合Fox-Li迭代法,考虑腔内本征模式与腔镜热形变的相互耦合作用,计算模拟了正支共焦非稳腔的本征模式分布,定量分析了高功率激光器腔镜热变形对输出光束质量的影响,重点讨论了腔镜热变形所引起的腔内本征模式相位特性的变化,并从波前功率谱密度、Zernike像差系数及光束质量值等角度对腔镜发生热形变前后的激光器输出光束的光束特性进行比较分析。研究结果表明:高功率激光器腔镜热形变对输出光束的光束质量会产生一定的影响,且随着激光输出功率的增大,镜面热形变引起的输出光束波前相位高频比例及Zernike高阶像差均会有所增大,波前畸变程度也明显变大,光束质量逐渐变差。     

微变形镜内腔补偿激光模式畸变研究

 采用Fox-Li迭代方法，对畸变相差以Zernike多项式展开，计算了不同菲涅耳数的谐振腔在畸变发生时的低阶输出模式，分析了激光器谐振腔内畸变对激光输出模式的影响。对微变形镜的面形以Zernike多项式进行拟合，计算了中心电极的影响函数，并建立了微变形镜控制模型。实验上将微变形镜作为激光器的一个腔镜，验证了微变形镜对激光输出模式的补偿作用。结果表明，内腔微变形镜对激光输出模式具有校正作用，激光基本上可以达到基模输出。     

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。     

高光束质量高斯非稳腔固体激光器研究

为了获得高光束质量的脉冲固体激光输出,研究了高斯非稳腔固体激光器的模式分布。运用边界有限元法将谐振腔内光场衍射积分方程转化成矩阵方程组,模拟分析了平凸高斯非稳腔内光阑位置、孔径大小以及高斯镜参数对输出光束模式的影响。基于理论模拟结果对激光器结构参数进行了优化,分别测量了腔内不同光阑位置和孔径下的激光器输出光束振幅及模式分布情况。在光阑半径为1 mm、光阑距高斯镜为150 mm、泵浦电压为900 V的实验条件下,光束质量M_x~2=1. 9、M_y~2=2. 3,激光最大输出能量为280 mJ的高光束质量激光输出。实验结果表明,在腔内加入选模光阑以及优化高斯镜参数可以进一步改善腔内模式分布,获得高光束质量激光输出,这与理论模拟结果基本相符。     

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。     

光束变换环形孔径有源激光谐振腔模式的数值模拟

建立了燃烧驱动环柱型高能化学激光器环形增益介质的五种分布模型,使用差分和积分相结合的方法计算了束变换环孔腔在不同增益分布和折射率分布时的模式特征,研究了增益分布和折射率分布对束变换环孔腔输出性能的影响,结果表明束变换环孔腔在不同的增益介质及折射率分布情况下,仍然可以保持良好的输出光束质量,很高的提取效率,在化学激光器增益流存在激波扰动的情况下,输出光场的施特雷尔比仍达到0．8991,同时腔镜上光强分布较为均匀,可以避免镜面因热应力分布不均匀而造成镜面变形和破坏。该腔不但适用于高能化学激光器,也可以用于高能固体激光器,起到克服固体增益介质热畸变与热应力的作用,可获得优良的输出光束质量。     

内腔自适应光学系统校正激光器畸变

固体激光器中,增益介质由于热沉积产生的热畸变严重影响了激光器的稳定性、输出功率和光束质量。研究了一种内腔自适应光学系统校正激光器腔内畸变的方法,利用微机电变形反射镜作为固体激光器的内腔全反射镜,通过控制变形镜的面型改善激光器输出光束的模式及功率。从腔外引入的一束信标光通过激光器内腔后反射出腔外,用波前探测器可测得激光器工作时腔内畸变对此信标光的影响,并通过搭建的自适应光学系统平台可闭环校正此畸变。实验结果表明,闭环校正后,激光器的输出功率提高了近3倍,且激光光束质量得到了明显的改善。     

氧碘化学激光器束转动90度环形非稳腔空心光束输出研究

 主要描述了氧碘化学激光器束转动90°环形非稳腔（UR90）空心光束输出的腔结构及几何模式特点,实验中获得了在放大率M=1.695,激光平均输出功率4.0kW时,空心光束输出的激光光束质量为3.2倍衍射极限,同时对空心光束输出特性进行了分析。     

腔镜失调与面型误差对光束质量影响研究

 在准确测量腔镜面形加工精度的基础上，通过光学模拟软件ZEMAX实现了氧碘化学激光器折叠虚共焦非稳腔的光学建模，利用光腔模型进行了腔镜面形误差对光束质量影响的研究以及腔镜失调对光束波前影响的分析，在空腔的情况下利用调腔He-Ne激光进行了光束质量测量实验。实测结果与建模数据基本符合，验证了该方法的可行性。     

后腔镜对掺镱双包层光纤激光器输出特性影响研究

使用国产掺镱双包层光纤搭建了双包层激光器实验系统.将透射率不同的反射镜作为后腔镜进行了激光器输出激光光谱和功率测量.根据激光器数学模型和增益理论,分析了实验中后腔镜参量对激光器输出特性的影响,并深入讨论了后腔镜透射率与激光器输出波长之间的关系.实验表明：后腔镜与激光器输出激光功率和波长紧密联系,通过调节后腔镜的透射率可以优化系统的输出激光特性.     

热变形谐振腔的激光模式理论分析

 应用微扰理论,对微热变形腔的激光模式进行了理论计算与分析;给出了激光模式之间的耦合以及等效光束发散角与镜面变形量之间的关系。结果表明：镜面中心处热变形量越大,模式之间的耦合越强,激光腔模式发生畸变就越严重;当镜面中心处热变形量为0.5λ时,基模TEM₀的中心光强将下降50%,其等效光束发散角将增大到镜面无变形时的2倍。     

长时热变形下硅反射镜的参量选择

 以硅反射镜材料为例,对长时热变形下镜面吸收率、镜夹持半径及激光功率等参量对氧碘化学激光输出光束特性的影响进行了研究,给出了参量选择范围。模拟计算结果表明:镜面吸收率是控制输出功率的关键因素之一,要保证在出光10 s内输出功率下降程度小于20%,吸收率应不超过3.0×10^-4。在四点夹持的情况下,镜面夹持半径大小与输出光束大小相关,当夹持半径与输出光束半径的比值大于1.40时,可以避免夹持过小造成的镜面边缘处发生畸变的现象。     

Design of a 2.5 THz submillimeter wave laser with optical pump beam guiding

A ring resonator design using the same set of mirrors for pump beam and submillimeter wave (SMMW) beam guiding is introduced. Optimal design is discussed on the example of a 2.5 THz methanol laser. It turns out that due to refocussing of the pump beam on the pinhole certain focal lengths of the focussing mirror, which mainly is responsible for the beam guiding, should be avoided. Diffraction losses and pinhole losses determine optimalg-parameters for which the pump beam guiding losses of the resonator are minimum, and optimal pump beam waist radii.The setup of an experimental laser with the optimized resonator and the experimental setup to measure laser performance are described, and results concerning laser output power, beam quality and efficiency are discussed.     

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.     

强激光腔镜温升对腔几何参数和远场光强的影响

 利用交替方向隐式有限差分法分析了高能激光器虚共焦非稳腔反射镜的温度场及热变形的数值计算方法。以单晶硅为例，计算了反射镜由于吸收激光能量而形成的温度场分布以及由此引起的热变形对谐振腔几何结构参数的影响，并在此基础上数值模拟了热畸变情况下正支虚共焦非稳腔的远场光强分布。计算结果表明:在激光束辐照的开始阶段，温升场主要集中在激光束辐照的中心区域内，在整个镜面上远未拉平，由此引起的厚度方向温升分布也是如此，很不均匀。     

Study on the possibilities of controlling the laser output beam properties by an intracavity deformable mirror

The possibilities of controlling the laser beam properties by a deformable mirror introduced into the laser optical cavity were studied theoretically and experimentally. The experiments were performed under conditions of an industrial high power transverse flow cw CO₂ laser operating with a stable resonator of a folded configuration. A deformable bimorph mirror of a surface profile controlled by the voltage applied to the mirror electrodes is implemented to the laser system as a back cavity mirror or as a one of the inner folding mirrors. The near-and far-field characteristics of the laser beam versus the resonator configuration controlled by the changes of the focal length of the deformable mirror are discussed in the paper. The analysis reveals that the resonator with an inner deformable mirror is much more sensitive to the mirror curvature variations than the resonator in which the deformable mirror is used as a back cavity mirror. The presented results show that dynamic and controllable changes in the resonator properties result in the controlled modification and optimisation of the laser output power and spatial parameters of the laser radiation.     

Design of SMMW Laser Resonators with On-Axis Signal and Pump Beam Guiding in a Mirror Ring

A ring resonator design for optically pumped submillimeter wave (SMMW) lasers using the same set of four mirrors (including one focussing mirror) for pump beam and SMMW beam guiding is introduced.The optimum design is discussed on the example of a 2.523 THz methanol laser. It turns out that the focal length of the focussing mirror has to be adapted to the resonator perimeter. Eleven well suited focal length - resonator perimeter ratios, defining eleven standard resonator configurations, can be distinguished.The setup of an experimental laser with the optimized resonator and the experimental setup to measure laser performance are described, and results concerning laser output power, beam quality and efficiency are discussed.This paper is the extended version of the paper presented on the 23rd International Conference in Colchester [1] and continues a former article presented in this journal [2].     

氧碘化学激光器输出光斑漂移和变形研究

 通过对高能量密度氧碘化学激光器运行过程中存在的远场光斑漂移和变形实验现象的分析和测量,得出在高能量密度激光系统中谐振腔的各反射镜的同心度对远场输出光斑的漂移和变形影响很大。指出提高谐振腔内各反射镜在大气中的同心度及降低在激光系统抽真空过程中光腔盒的不稳定程度, 是显著降低激光远场输出光斑漂移和变形的有效途径。     

Optical resonator for high-power transverse flow CO2 lasers

A new design of the U-type resonator is described. In this way, a laser beam with symmetrical intensity profile (regarding to a symmetry plane) can be extracted from an active medium that exhibits gain asymmetry along one of the transverse directions. The whole area of the active medium cross-section can be used, and consequently the laser efficiency will be increased. This resonator structure was applied for efficiency power extraction (as a low order TEM modes laser beam) from a DC excited transverse flow CO₂ laser with cylindrical geometry. Although the cross-section area of the discharge was entirely used (including the cathode fall region), a symmetrical intensity profile of the laser beam (regarding to the two orthogonal symmetry planes) was obtained in the near field as well as in the far field; the gain asymmetry along the flow direction was compensated by the gas circulation fluidodynamical circuit with two counterflowing discharge channels. A double-U optical resonator was introduced in order to provide a laser beam with axial symmetry.For the practical construction of these two types of optical resonators we have developed two new types of 90° deflection elements: the first one, which does not reverse the image (and which has the properties of the pentaprism), and the second one, which rotates the image with 90° angle. Both elements exhibit good focusability if they are equipped with two concave mirrors.     

自由电子激光器的掠射环形谐振腔

研究一种新型自由电子激光谐振腔结构.采用双曲面-抛物面非球面镜组合的扩束系统,使振荡光束在腔内口径扩大6倍.提高了反射膜层抗激光破坏能力.本文讨论了扩束倍数、非球面参量、谐振腔长度和掠射光斑尺寸等参量对光学系统像差的影响.