Simulation of Birefringence in Laser Crystals

摘要

Thermal lensing effects and birefringence in laser crystals strongly influence beam quality of high power solid state lasers. Particularly, the effects of birefringence are important in laser amplifiers using Nd:YAG crystals. To study these effects, a simulation tool was developed, which allows to calculate birefringence in laser crystals for different kind of crystal cuts and pumping configurations. The photoelastic effects were accurately calculated by FE method. Simulation results are presented for different crystals and pumping. We also show that birefringence is not radially symmetric for a 111-cut Nd:YAG crystal, even when the pumping configuration is radially symmetric.