Every Gaussian mirror manufactured by LASER COMPONENTS is checked thoroughly at an automated measuring station. In order to keep the quality of the measurement curves at the highest possible level at all times, the company has now made extensive modifications to this measuring station and brought it into line with current technical standards. A cw laser beam (1064nm) scans along the diameter of the mirror to document the course of reflectivity across the entire width of the optics. This way the customer can be sure that every mirror meets his specifications.
Gaussian mirrors are used wherever high-quality laser beams with a low beam divergence at high pulse energies are required - for example to increase the pumping efficiency in frequency-doubled systems. In order to achieve the desired Gaussian-shaped power distribution, the optics must be coated in such a way that the reflection curve increases continuously over the radius towards the centre. Our company from Olching near Munich is one of the few manufacturers to take up this challenge.