A comparison is made between the beam quality parameter M² and a new times-diffraction-limit-factor (TDL) for two high peak power XeCl lasers. The laser systems, equipped with unstable resonators, emit beams with different geometrical characteristic and optical quality. The results show that the M²-factor is always larger than the TDL value and this discrepancy increases if the beam is almost diffraction- limited. A novel method to obtain the far-field profile of coherent superGaussian-like beams and a simple technique to estimate the beam angular stability of a pulsed laser are also presented.

Date Published: 4 April 1997
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 3092, XI International Symposium on Gas Flow and Chemical Lasers and High-Power Laser Conference, (4 April 1997); doi: 10.1117/12.270259

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3092:
XI International Symposium on Gas Flow and Chemical Lasers and High-Power Laser Conference
Denis R. Hall; Howard J. Baker, Editor(s)