title: Off-axis folded laser beam trajectories in a strip-line CO(2) laser.
abstract: Using an rf-excited strip-line CO(2) laser with large lateral dimensions (a high Fresnel number) in a hemiconfocal optical cavity configuration, we observe modes that are distinctively off axial. They can be viewed as folded Gaussian beams with trajectories in the shapes of the letters M and W. Either of these modes can be isolated by suppressing the other mode through the introduction of a suitably positioned obstacle into the cavity. Computer simulations of the radiation propagation in the cavity yielded field distributions conforming to the observed pattern.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sterman
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gabay
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yatsiv
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dagan