Passive Optical Losses in Laser Glass.

摘要

Background absorption, scattering, and stress-birefringence loss measurements are reported for phosphate laser glass amplifier media used in fusion and high average power laser systems. Typical background absorption and stress birefringence losses were found to be comparable, and on the order of 10(sup-3)/cm. Scattering losses, on the other hand, were typically found to be more than an order of magnitude smaller. The results indicate that improvements in the cost/performance ratio can be achieved by reducing background absorption of birefringence, and possibly also through the use of cheaper polishing techniques. 6 refs.