On the Accuracy of the Beam-Wave Theory of the Open Resonator (Letters)

In an interesting paper Erickson has demonstrated how perturbation theory can be used to improve the accuracy of the beam-wave theory of the open resonator. Specifically, two defects of beam-wave theory are considered. The first is that the equiphase surfaces of beam-wave theory are not spherical, the second is that the wave function employed is only an approximate solution to the wave equation.