Near diffraction-limited performance of an OPA pumped acetylene-filled hollow-core fiber laser in the mid-IR.

We investigate the mid-IR laser beam characteristics from an acetylene-filled hollow-core optical fiber gas laser (HOFGLAS) system. The laser exhibits near-diffraction limited beam quality in the 3 μm region with M = 1.15 ± 0.

Generation of radially and azimuthally polarized beams in Yb:YAG laser with intra-cavity lens and birefringent crystal.

We demonstrated the operation of cw diode-pumped Yb:YAG laser in radial or azimuthal polarized (RP or AP) beams using a combination of birefringent uniaxial crystal (c-cut YVO4 or α-BBO) and lens as intra-cavity elements. RP and AP doughnut modes (M2 = 2-2.5, polarization extinction ratio 50-100:1) with output power up to 60 mW were generated.