Mode matching to an optical cavity

In summary, "Mode matching to an optical cavity" involves optimizing the alignment and overlap of a light beam with the specific modes of an optical cavity to enhance efficiency in applications such as lasers and sensors. This process typically includes adjusting the beam's spatial profile, focusing conditions, and alignment to maximize coupling into the cavity modes, ultimately improving performance metrics like power output and signal-to-noise ratio. Techniques such as beam shaping and careful alignment procedures are essential for successful mode matching.
  • #1
kelly0303
580
33
Hello! I need to mode match a laser light to an optical cavity and I am a bit unsure what is the most time efficient way of doing so. The cavity is a symmetrical bow-tie and I inject the light from one of the flat mirrors (the other 2 are concave). In this case, I want the shape of the gaussian beam after passing through the mode matching lenses, to have the waist right in between the 2 flat mirrors. Doing ABCD matrix formalism I know the expected waist in the steady state inside the cavity. I can also calculate the waist after the beam passes through the lenses (given my setup it turns out I need first a divergent than a convergent lens). However, for this latter case, there are several unknowns, for example, I can use the formula for the ABCD formalism for a thin lens, but how do I account for the thickness of the lenses? Or, the light passes through an EOM, do I just assume that is a block of glass of a given index of refraction? Overall, I might get an estimate, but I can't precisely calculate the needed lenses focal lenses and distance between them. What is the best way, starting from the calculations, to optimize in practice the mode matching?
 

Similar threads

Replies
0
Views
1K
Replies
2
Views
3K
Replies
2
Views
697
Replies
3
Views
3K
Replies
1
Views
334
Replies
6
Views
2K
Replies
9
Views
3K
Back
Top