Thermal efficiency of pulsed laser radiation increased by methods of multibeam acousto-optic diffraction

摘要

Bragg multibeam acousto-optic diffraction of pulsed laser radiation (with 150-ns pulse duration) has been studied under conditions of significant overlap between the neighboring beams. It is established that the initial beam with a Gaussian angular distribution of intensity can be transformed into diffracted radiation with a nearly rectangular profile of intensity provided that the laser pulse duration is much shorter than the period of interference beats in the overlapping regions. Using this circumstance, it is possible to increase the efficiency of high-power lasers in material processing (laser cutting, welding, engraving, etc.) with a threshold character of the radiation effect. This possibility was experimentally verified for a fiber laser operating at a 1. 07 μm wavelength.