Thermal lens in diode-pumped square-section rods of Nd-doped phosphate glass and 0.5%Nd:5%Lu:CaF2 crystal: simulations and experiments

C Bernerd; B Da Costa Fernandes; E Boursier; J Luce; C Maunier; A Braud; C Meroni; P Camy; S Montant

doi:10.1364/AO.408648

Thermal lens in diode-pumped square-section rods of Nd-doped phosphate glass and 0.5%Nd:5%Lu:CaF₂ crystal: simulations and experiments

Appl Opt. 2020 Nov 1;59(31):9905-9911. doi: 10.1364/AO.408648.

Authors

C Bernerd, B Da Costa Fernandes, E Boursier, J Luce, C Maunier, A Braud, C Meroni, P Camy, S Montant

PMID: 33175830
DOI: 10.1364/AO.408648

Abstract

We performed simulations and experiments of wavefront distortions induced by propagating through diode-pumped square-section amplifying laser rods of Nd-doped phosphate glass and 0.5%Nd:5%Lu:CaF₂. We observed that depending on the material, wavefront distortions' profile can vary from a circular lens-like distortion to a complex astigmatic distortion. We showed that this difference comes from the relative sign of piezo-optic tensor coefficients.