Solutions for stability and astigmatism in high power laser resonators

A method is proposed for the design of fundamental mode high power resonators, with joined stability zones. A parameter is created which gives the minimum length a laser resonator should have while having at the same time the broadest stabilities zones. For multimode and large mode volume resonators, a configuration is introduced for maximizing the laser overall efficiency due to the compensation of the astigmatism induced by the flash lamp pumping heating. The later configuration proposes a dual-active medium resonator, with 90 degree rotation around the optical axis between the astigmatic thermal lenses of the mediums. The reliability of this configuration is corroborated experimentally using a Nd:YAG dual-active medium resonator. It is found that in the pumping power range where the astigmatism compensation is possible, the overall efficiency is constant, even when increasing the excitation power with the consequent increase of the thermal lens dioptric power.