Abstract

We have previously discussed the transmission and coupling losses of a Gaussian beam in a folded waveguide structure made of two hollow square waveguides placed symmetrically above a spherical mirror with a nonzero on-axis angle between. Here we investigate the additional loss due to the misalignment of the mirror (axial displacement and/or angular tilt). The theoretical results are in good agreement with experiment and provide alignment tolerances for folded waveguide design.

© 1990 Optical Society of America

Transmission and coupling losses in a folded waveguide

J. Banerji, A. R. Davies, P. E. Jackson, and R. M. Jenkins
Appl. Opt. 28(21) 4637-4643 (1989)

Carbon dioxide waveguide lasers with folds and tilted mirrors

C. A. Hill, P. E. Jackson, and D. R. Hall
Appl. Opt. 29(15) 2240-2245 (1990)

Effects of curved mirrors in waveguide resonators

J. Banerji, A. R. Davies, C. A. Hill, R. M. Jenkins, and J. R. Redding
Appl. Opt. 34(16) 3000-3008 (1995)

Comparisons of waveguide folding geometries in a CO₂ z-fold laser

Paul E. Jackson, Denis R. Hall, and Christopher A. Hill
Appl. Opt. 28(5) 935-941 (1989)

Near-field effect of output mirror misalignment in an axisymmetric folded and combined CO₂ laser cavity

Yonggen Xu and Yude Li
Appl. Opt. 48(28) 5295-5300 (2009)