The authors outline a theory for the calculation of the beam quality factor of an aberrated laser beam. They provide closed form equations that show that the beam quality factor of an aberrated Gaussian beam depends on all primary aberrations except tilt, defocus, and x-astigmatism. The model is verified experimentally by implementing aberrations as digital holograms in the laboratory
Reference:
Mafusire, C and Forbes, A. 2011. Generalized beam quality factor of aberrated truncated Gaussian laser beams. Journal of the Optical Society of America, Vol 28(7), pp 1372-1378
Mafusire, C., & Forbes, A. (2011). Generalized beam quality factor of aberrated truncated Gaussian laser beams. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/5196
Mafusire, C, and A Forbes "Generalized beam quality factor of aberrated truncated Gaussian laser beams." (2011) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/5196
Mafusire C, Forbes A. Generalized beam quality factor of aberrated truncated Gaussian laser beams. 2011; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/5196.
This paper was published in [Journal of the Optical Society of America] and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law