Jong Rak PARK, Jae Yong LEE, Hyun Su KIM, Ki Young UM and Hong Jin KONG

Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 373-1, Kusong-dong, Yusong-gu, Taejon 305-701, Korea

(Received November 1, 1996; Accepted December 12, 1996)

A numerical model based on ray optics formulation taking the optical path length into account was described and applied to numerical investigations on a thermal birefringence compensation scheme proposed and experimentally demonstrated by Q. LEet al. [Opt. Quantum Electron. 28 (1996) 57]. Taking into consideration the thermal lensing effects of laser rods depolarization losses and spatial intensity profiles of depolarized beams were calculated for the scheme. It was theoretically confirmed that using a polarization rotator and imaging optics effective compensation for the birefringence in rods is possible for a wide range of pumping power.

Key words : Nd³⁺ : YAG laser, birefringence compensation, thermal birefringence, thermal focusing, polarization