Controlling the propagation axes of an ion laser

Abstract

The motion of the output beam from an ion laser is critical for most applications, including the pumping of other lasers. In this paper we show that for a stable ion laser cavity, the output coupler can be used to position the beam at a given point in space. In this case an actively controlled laser cavity maintains the beam position at the laser exit. For a typical ion laser with an 8 m radius output coupler optic, maintaining the output beam position reduces the total beam motion a factor of 8, 1 m from the laser. Besides reducing the total beam motion, eliminating the position offset translates to a better angular overlap of pump and a cavity modes in lasers pumped by ion lasers such as Ti:sapphire lasers.