A polarization property of a laser output was characterized for a CO₂ laser with a mirror of anisotropic reflectivity for p and s polarization installed within the cavity. A slight difference of reflectivity of the mirror for p and s polarization is emphasized through the multiple reflection within the laser cavity, because a laser system forms a feedback system to reach a laser oscillation. By using this idea of feedback system, a laser output with a linear polarization of a large polarization ratio and with a specially polarized mode like TE₀₁ which has a polarization vector tangential to a circle was obtained. A new type of measuring system is proposed to measure the polarization characteristics of the reflectivity of a mirror like sample set within a laser cavity through a laser output.

Date Published: 16 August 1996
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 2873, International Symposium on Polarization Analysis and Applications to Device Technology, (16 August 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.246181

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2873:
International Symposium on Polarization Analysis and Applications to Device Technology
Toru Yoshizawa; Hideshi Yokota, Editor(s)