Takehiro FUKUSHIMA¹, Koichiro SAKAGUCHI¹, Masanori HANGYO², and Yasunori TOKUDA¹

¹Department of Information and Communication Engineering, Okayama Prefectural University, Soja, Okayama 719-1197, Japan
²Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan

(Received March 4, 2013; Accepted May 13, 2013)

Resonator modes in two-dimensional laser cavities with curved end mirrors filled with a left-handed material were investigated numerically using the extended Fox–Li mode calculation method. The results reveal that the phase profile on the curved end mirrors of a left-handed cavity is inverted relative to that of a cavity filled with a right-handed material. Furthermore, we show that the phase on the end mirrors takes discrete values of zero and ± π under stable resonator conditions, while it varies continuously under unstable resonator conditions. The differences between stable and unstable resonators significantly alter the far-field patterns of the lowest-loss modes.

Key words: two-dimensional laser cavity, resonator modes, left-handed material