Moshe Inon, Jackel Steven, Meir Avi
Non-linear Optics Group, Soreq Nuclear Research Center, Yavne 81800, Israel.
Opt Lett. 2003 May 15;28(10):807-9. doi: 10.1364/ol.28.000807.
Production and amplification of radially and azimuthally (tangentially) polarized laser beams are demonstrated. Based on the different focusing between radially and tangentially polarized light in thermally stressed isotropic laser rods, Nd:YAG laser oscillators were developed to produce low-loss stable oscillation in a single polarization. Pure radially polarized light at 70 W with M2 = 2 and on-axis impure radially polarized light at 150 W with M2 = 2.5 were achieved. The radially polarized beams were then amplified while good beam quality and polarization purity were retained. Complete elimination of thermal-birefringence-induced aberrations was demonstrated. This should allow much better beam quality from rod-based high-power lasers.
展示了径向和方位角（切向）偏振激光束的产生和放大。基于热应力各向同性激光棒中径向和切向偏振光的不同聚焦特性，开发了Nd:YAG激光振荡器，以在单偏振下产生低损耗稳定振荡。实现了70 W、M² = 2的纯径向偏振光以及150 W、M² = 2.5的轴上非纯径向偏振光。随后对径向偏振光束进行了放大，同时保持了良好的光束质量和偏振纯度。证明了完全消除热双折射引起的像差。这应该能使基于激光棒的高功率激光器获得更好的光束质量。
