Application of a telescopic resonator to high-power chemicaloxygen-iodine lasers

The application of an intraresonator telescope to high-power chemical oxygen-iodine lasers to decrease the output beam divergence is analyzed and demonstrated. A theoretical formula based on the ABCD matrix theory is developed to analyze the characteristics of the telescopic resonator. Calculations are carried out using Galilean type telescopes with magnification factors in the range of two to four, and our high-power chemical oxygen-iodine laser as an analysis model. By locating the telescope at a proper position on the optical axis, the overall telescopic resonator can be conveniently tailored to the hardware of this model laser in a way that the beam divergence and the resonator stability can be improved simultaneously. Experiments are carried out for one of the conditions used in the calculations. Measured divergence angles are in excellent agreement with the theoretical values