About particularities of intensities distribution in a cross-section of powerful laser beams

The physical nature and manifestation of several types of instabilities and fluctuation processes in the cavity of the fast-flow CO2-laser are considered. It was established by experiment that optimal design of optical and gas-dynamic laser sections depresses totally the high frequency fluctuations and reduces low-frequency fluctuations to the level 6 - 10%. It was shown that inhomogeneities in the laser cavity are apt to complicate appreciably the space- temporary structure of output laser radiation. To interpret the experimental results influence of phase aberrations on the process of formation of caustics and wavefront dislocations in laser beam is considered.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.