Open AccessBeam quality measurement of a static-cell cesium DPAL with a stable resonator
Author(s) -
Matthew D. Rotondaro,
B. V. Zhdanov,
M. K. Shaffer,
R. J. Knize
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.26.005497
Subject(s) - resonator , optics , materials science , diode , caesium , beam (structure) , laser beam quality , laser , torr , optoelectronics , laser beams , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , thermodynamics
We performed a measurement of the beam quality of an optimized moderate power cesium Diode Pumped Alkali Laser (DPAL). The DPAL used a stable resonator and operated in continuous wave mode using a static cell filled with metallic cesium and a mixture of methane and helium at 200 and 400 torr respectively. In this work, we characterized the spatial quality of the DPAL output beam. As a result of these experiments we determined the output beam quality was excellent (M 2 < 1.2) in the whole range of pump power used (up to 11.5W) and pump intensities reaching 1.5 kW/cm 2 . The optical conversion efficiency of this laser was 51% and the slope efficiency was 61%.