title: Simulation of birefringence effects on the dominant transversal laser resonator mode caused by anisotropic crystals.
abstract: Birefringence effects can have a significant influence on the polarization state as well as on the transversal mode structure of laser resonators. This work introduces a flexible, fast and fully vectorial algorithm for the analysis of resonators containing homogeneous, anisotropic optical components. It is based on a generalization of the Fox and Li algorithm by field tracing, enabling the calculation of the dominant transversal resonator eigenmode. For the simulation of light propagation through the anisotropic media, a fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) based angular spectrum of plane waves approach is introduced. Besides birefringence effects, this technique includes intra-crystal diffraction and interface refraction at crystal surfaces. The combination with numerically efficient eigenvalue solvers, namely vector extrapolation methods, ensures the fast convergence of the method. Furthermore a numerical example is presented which is in good agreement to experimental measurements.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Asoubar
authors.forename: Site
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wyrowski