Optical resonators and Gaussian beams

Introduction

Lasers are optical resonators mainly made of three basic elements :

  • A light amplifying medium

  • A pumping system

  • A resonant cavity

The first two points are described in details in another part of the « source » module (« laser : basic principles »). The point of the present course is to deal with the third element to explain how a resonant cavity can impact the properties of laser beams.

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