Enhancement of laser performance using an intracavity deformable membrane mirror

Abstract

An intracavity deformable membrane mirror has been successfully used to optimise the brightness of solid-state lasers--a side-pumped Nd(3+):YAlO laser where the oscillation of a low-order transverse mode was obtained, and a grazing incidence Nd(3+):GdVO(4) laser where a brightness increase by an order of magnitude with negligible drop in power was achieved. Several search algorithms were also implemented in the system and compared with respect to intracavity optimisation.