Design and analysis of thermal stable regenerative cavity with multiple laser heads using 4f system

Regenerative amplifiers containing multiple diverse laser heads have the ability of scaling up output power as well as broadening spectral bandwidth. However, the thermal lensing effect will be more complicated. A method using a 4f system to simplify the thermal lensing effect in a multidisk condition is proposed. Two kinds of Yb-dropped sesquioxide materials are chosen as an example. On the basis of calculating the thermal lensing parameters of the thin-disk laser heads, a feasible cavity design that can minimize the fluctuation of beam size when changing the pump power is given out. The 4f system consisting of concave mirrors will introduce astigmatism in the cavity. The influence of astigmatism and the compensation method are discussed. Astigmatism can be compensated by adding extra convex mirrors and controlling the angle of incidence at each mirror.