Dependence of curvature type of thermal lensing on number of bounces in a zigzag slab laser:numerical modeling

The curvature type of the thermal lens generated in a zigzag slab laser is numerically analysed. It is found that the curvature type of the thermal lens varies alternatively between the convex and the concave lenses with the number of bounces of light within the slab, which can be well explained by the trace of the zigzag propagation. In addition, we conclude that the beamlet with a larger number of bounces experiences weaker thermal lensing but more serious wavefront deformation due to the large side lobe portion in the curve of optical path difference.

锯齿形板条抽运结构的热效应数值比较

激光二极管抽运的全固态激光器中,除了激光介质的温度分布和热透镜效应以外,抽运、冷却结构对获得高光束质量、高功率激光输出至关重要。基于热传导方程,在相同的抽运功率和传导冷却边界条件下,对单侧面抽运锯齿形(zigzag)板条、单侧面键合锯齿形板条、部分抽运板条三种不同抽运结构的温度分布、热致应力、温度导致的折射率变化进行了详细的分析,并通过光线追迹方法,比较了光束在锯齿形面内和垂直于锯齿形面内的光程差,由光程差曲线分析了激光束的热透镜效应。对三种抽运结构的端面温度、端面变形和端面变形导致的光程差也进行了对比分析。结果表明,三种抽运结构在锯齿形面内的光束均表现为发散特性,在垂直于锯齿形面内的光束表现为热聚焦效应,温度导致的热聚焦特性相差不是很大。而在消除端面效应方面,键合激光板条具有明显优势。最后,提出了热透镜效应的补偿方法。