Plane-parallel cavities with Gaussian-reflectivity-profile mirrors as full reflectors were applied to a XeCl laser, and the near- and the far-field characteristics of the laser radiation were analyzed. It is shown that excimer lasers fitted with plane-parallel Gaussian cavities deliver laser radiation with a beam-quality factor M² that is more than 50% smaller than that of laser beams delivered by conventional plane-parallel cavities. The effect of the Gaussian mirror spot size on M² was also investigated, and it is shown that the narrowing of the Gaussian mirror spot size reduces the beam-quality-factor value.

© 1997 Optical Society of America

[Optical Society of America ]

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