title: Beam quality management by periodic reproduction of wavefront aberrations in end-pumped Nd:YVO4laser amplifiers.
abstract: A method for beam quality management is presented in a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) using Nd:YVO4as the gain medium by extra-cavity periodic reproduction of wavefront aberrations. The wavefront aberration evolution of the intra-cavity beams is investigated for both symmetrical and asymmetrical resonators. The wavefront aberration reproduction process is successfully realized outside the cavity in four-stage amplifiers. In the MOPA with a symmetrical oscillator, the laser power increases linearly and the beam quality hardly changes. In the MOPA with an asymmetrical oscillator, the beam quality is deteriorated after the odd-stage amplifier and is improved after the even-stage amplifier. The wavefront aberration reproduction during the extra-cavity beam propagation in the amplifiers is equivalent to that during the intra-cavity propagation. This solution helps to achieve the effective beam quality management in laser amplifier chains.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lifeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Chunhua
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhibin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xiang