Porro prism lasers: a new perspective

Liesl Burger; Andrew Forbes

doi:10.1117/12.793702

3 September 2008 Porro prism lasers: a new perspective

Liesl Burger, Andrew Forbes

Proceedings Volume 7070, Optical Technologies for Arming, Safing, Fuzing, and Firing IV; 70700L (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.793702
Event: Optical Engineering + Applications, 2008, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Porro prism lasers are insensitive to misalignment caused by, for example, shock and temperature variation, making them useful in field applications, for example in target designation and range-finding systems. This property is a result of the property of Porro prisms that they return a reflected beam parallel to the incident beam, regardless of any tilt on the prism. These lasers are generally used in a marginally stable or unstable configuration for low divergence, but in the stable configuration some interesting kaleidoscope modes can be modelled. In previous work on Porro prism resonators we formulated an analytical method of determining which Porro angles resonate and result in petal output modes, as well as the corresponding number of petals. This work has been verified using a numerical model as well as experimentally. We have developed this work further and have investigated the losses associated with a range of Porro angles as well as the effects of these losses on the resulting modes. We conclude by summarizing the design considerations for Porro prism lasers.

Citation Download Citation

Liesl Burger and Andrew Forbes "Porro prism lasers: a new perspective", Proc. SPIE 7070, Optical Technologies for Arming, Safing, Fuzing, and Firing IV, 70700L (3 September 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.793702

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