Whispering-gallery laser resonators. I. Diffraction of whispering-gallery modes

Author

Braud, John Paul ; Hagelstein, Peter L.

Author_Institution

Res. Lab. of Electron., MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

27

Issue

4

fYear

1991

fDate

4/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1069

Lastpage

1077

Abstract

Whispering-gallery optics for use at soft X-ray and extreme ultraviolet wavelengths are examined for their potential applications in laser resonators. An examination is made of beam divergence at the exit of a whispering gallery resonator. The properties of whispering-gallery eigenmodes are reviewed, and the features of their Fourier transforms discussed. The Fraunhofer approximation is then used to describe the farfield pattern resulting from the diffraction of a whispering-gallery eigenmode. Explicit formulas are given for the farfield beamwidth and the Rayleigh distance. For modes of high order the results can be understood in terms of geometrical optics

Keywords

Fourier transform optics; geometrical optics; laser cavity resonators; laser modes; light diffraction; Fourier transforms; Fraunhofer approximation; Rayleigh distance; beam divergence; diffraction; extreme ultraviolet wavelengths; farfield beamwidth; farfield pattern; geometrical optics; soft X-ray; whispering gallery laser resonators; whispering gallery optics; whispering-gallery eigenmodes; whispering-gallery modes; Acoustic beams; Laser beams; Laser modes; Mirrors; Optical diffraction; Optical resonators; Optical ring resonators; Ultraviolet sources; Whispering gallery modes; X-ray lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.83342

Filename

83342