This paper gives expressions to calculate the fraction of power, fPIB, from a given multimode gaussian laser beam that can be deposited within a bucket of radius, r_T, on a target at a range, z_T, using a focusing optic of diameter, D_f. We relate the power in the bucket, fPIB, to the M² parameter, both of which can be experimentally measured. In this paper, we have also presented relationships between these two parameters and BQ and Strehl, which have not been unambiguously defined for a multimode laser beam in the literature. We propose f_PIB and M² to be used as standard design parameters instead of BQ and Strehl for laser-target interaction tests with multimode laser beams from stable resonators.

Date Published: 3 March 2010
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 7579, Laser Resonators and Beam Control XII, 75790U (3 March 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.846382

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7579:
Laser Resonators and Beam Control XII
Alexis V. Kudryashov; Alan H. Paxton; Vladimir S. Ilchenko, Editor(s)