Large-mode enhancement cavities

Opt Express. 2013 May 6;21(9):11606-17. doi: 10.1364/OE.21.011606.

Abstract

In passive enhancement cavities the achievable power level is limited by mirror damage. Here, we address the design of robust optical resonators with large spot sizes on all mirrors, a measure that promises to mitigate this limitation by decreasing both the intensity and the thermal gradient on the mirror surfaces. We introduce a misalignment sensitivity metric to evaluate the robustness of resonator designs. We identify the standard bow-tie resonator operated close to the inner stability edge as the most robust large-mode cavity and implement this cavity with two spherical mirrors with 600 mm radius of curvature, two plane mirrors and a round trip length of 1.2 m, demonstrating a stable power enhancement of near-infrared laser light by a factor of 2000. Beam radii of 5.7 mm × 2.6 mm (sagittal × tangential 1/e(2) intensity radius) on all mirrors are obtained. We propose a simple all-reflective ellipticity compensation scheme. This will enable a significant increase of the attainable power and intensity levels in enhancement cavities.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Computer Simulation
  • Computer-Aided Design*
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Lenses*
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Refractometry / instrumentation*
  • Surface Plasmon Resonance / instrumentation*