Parametric study of the performance and beam quality of cesium DPAL: experiment and modelling

Abstract

The beam quality and efficiency of diode-pumped alkali lasers are strongly dependent on parameters such as the pump beam geometry, the resonator configuration, the gain length and other features. In the present work we studied experimentally and theoretically the dependence of some of these parameters on the laser performance. An optical model of multi-transverse mode operation of alkali vapor lasers [Auslender et al, Opt. Express 25, 19767 (2017)], modified for the current experiments, is applied to the experimental results. The values of the laser power and M2 predicted by the model are in good agreement with the experimental results for different shapes and powers of the pump beam.