Optical Quality of High-Power Laser Beams in Lenses

Abstract

We analyze the propagation of a high-power laser beam through a lens and calculate the optical beam quality resulting from geometrical aberrations and thermal nonlinearities. We present a general ray optics formulation, including diffraction effects, for propagation through a nonlinear medium. An analytical expression for the beam quality parameter M2 is derived that includes the lowest-order effects of geometrical and thermal aberrations in a thin lens. A ray optics simulation including thermal effects is used to model propagation through a multi-lens optical beam expander of the type used in recent long-range, high-power fiber laser experiments.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 31, 2008
Accession Number
ADA502656

Entities

People

  • Antonio Ting
  • Bahman Hafizi
  • Joseph R. Peñano
  • Philip Serafim
  • Phillip A. Sprangle
  • Richard Fischer

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption Coefficients
  • Climate Change
  • Diffraction
  • Equations
  • Geometry
  • Laser Beams
  • Laser Spots
  • Lasers
  • Materials
  • Military Research
  • Optical Fiber Lasers
  • Optical Lattices
  • Optical Materials
  • Optical Properties
  • Optics
  • Refractive Index
  • Simulations

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy