Diffractive photonic-crystal pumping of power lasers

Renat R. Letfullin; Henk F. Arnoldus; John T. Foley

doi:10.1117/12.472743

5 June 2003 Diffractive photonic-crystal pumping of power lasers

Renat R. Letfullin, Henk F. Arnoldus, John T. Foley

Proceedings Volume 4971, Gas and Chemical Lasers and Intense Beam Applications IV; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.472743
Event: High-Power Lasers and Applications, 2003, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

In the present report a novel diffractive technique for effective optical pumping of power chemical lasers by external coherent radiation is proposed. This technique utilizes a bicomponent diffraction system coupled structurally to the unstable telescopic cavity of the laser. The space localization of the electromagnetic field inside the proposed optical scheme represents a periodic structure of diffractive maxima in the near field-zone and a narrow paraxial diffraction channel with high intensity in the far-field zone. In the Fresnel diffraction zone, the optical effect of multifocal diffractive focusing of the radiation is observed. Here the intensity in the central peaks can exceed by a factor of six (for spherical waves) to ten (for plane waves) the value of the incident wave intensity. The diffractive focusing of the input radiation opens the possibility to create a narrow diffraction initiation channel inside the laser cavity with a given space distribution and a high intensity. This technique provides a high efficiency for optical pumping and makes it possible to get a huge value of the laser energy gain. Calculations show that the ignition of laser-chemical reactions in the diffraction initiation channel under the condition of diffractive focusing of input radiation allows the laser energy to reach a gain of up to 10⁹.

Citation Download Citation

Renat R. Letfullin, Henk F. Arnoldus, and John T. Foley "Diffractive photonic-crystal pumping of power lasers", Proc. SPIE 4971, Gas and Chemical Lasers and Intense Beam Applications IV, (5 June 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.472743

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