Active laser resonator performance: formation of a specified intensity output

We discuss the formation of a specified super-Gaussian intensity distribution of a fundamental mode by means of an intracavity controlled mirror, which is a water-cooled bimorph flexible mirror equipped with four controlling electrodes. Analysis has confirmed the possibility to form fourth-, sixth-, and eighth-order super-Gaussian intensity distributions at the output of the stable resonators of industrial cw CO, and YAG:Nd3+ lasers. We present the results of the experimental formation of fourth-order and sixth-order super-Gaussian fundamental modes at the output of a cw CO2 laser by means of an intracavity flexible mirror. We observed an increase in power up to 12% and an enlargement of the peak value of the far-field intensity by as much as 1.6 times that with a Gaussian TEM00 mode of the cw CO2 laser. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.