PROJECT 01
Development, alignment and characterization of a Ti:sapphire laser system.
This project focuses on the development and experimental characterization of a Ti:sapphire laser system. The work involves understanding the laser gain medium, optical cavity, pump configuration and Gaussian beam propagation.
The experimental system consists of a Ti:sapphire crystal placed inside a three-mirror optical cavity. A focused pump beam is used to excite the gain medium.
The cavity consists of curved mirrors, the Ti:sapphire crystal and an output coupler. The resonator geometry determines the stability and fundamental Gaussian mode of the cavity.
Gaussian beam propagation is used to determine the beam waist, Rayleigh range and mode size inside the laser crystal.
The stability of the optical resonator is analyzed using the ABCD matrix formalism. The calculated cavity parameters help determine the allowed Gaussian modes.
Experimental measurements and observations from the laser alignment and characterization will be presented here.
Further work will focus on optimizing the cavity alignment, improving mode matching and studying the laser performance under different operating conditions.