Dependence of curvature type of thermal lensing on number of bounces in a zigzag slab laser: numerical modeling

The curvature type of the thermal lens generated in a zigzag slab laser is numerically analysed. It is found that the curvature type of the thermal lens varies alternatively between the convex and the concave lenses with the number of bounces of light within the slab, which can be well explained by the trace of the zigzag propagation. In addition, we conclude that the beamlet with a larger number of bounces experiences weaker thermal lensing but more serious wavefront deformation due to the large side lobe portion in the curve of optical path difference.