ABSTRACT
The widespread use of lasers in technological processes highlights the problem of controlling the laser beam parameters. For example, metal-cutting processes typically demand the tightest beam focus possible. The chapter investigates the bimorph correctors for intracavity laser beam formation. It examines the use of the well-developed water-cooled flexible mirror designs to avoid any undesirable surface thermal deformations. Pure bimorph mirrors consist of two comparatively thin piezoceramic plates polarized in opposite directions. Manufacturing issues with the pure bimorph flexible mirrors have led to the development of so-called semipassive bimorph correctors. The bimorph flexible mirror has a concave spherical profile. The method for thermally stabilizing the mirror shape is water-cooling. Water-cooling is very important in high-power laser applications, where the mirror is heated by the laser beam. The back-propagation of the laser beam through all the resonator's elements to the active corrector is calculated using the Huygens-Fresnel integral equations.
