title: Conversion of a high-order mode beam into a nearly Gaussian beam by use of a single interferometric element.
abstract: We present a new, compact, and practical optical mode converter that efficiently transforms a high-order Hermite-Gaussian (HG) laser beam into a nearly Gaussian beam. The mode converter is based on coherently adding different transverse parts of the high-order mode beam by use of a single planar interferometric element. The method, configuration, and experimental results obtained with a pulsed Nd:YAG HG TEM10 laser beam are presented. The results reveal that the efficiency of conversion of a HG beam to a nearly Gaussian beam can be as high as 90%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. feami@wisemail.weizmann.ac.il
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Ishaaya
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Machavariani
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Friesem
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hasman