Rami Arieli: "The
Laser Adventure" Chapter 7 Section 1, page 1
7.1 Spatial distribution of the
emitted radiation at the output coupler.
Each laser beam mode has 3-D energy distribution.
It is convenient to separate between:
-
Longitudinal description
- parallel to the laser axis (z), described by longitudinal modes.
-
Two Transverse axis (x, y)
- which are used to describe the cross section of the laser
beam, by the Transverse Electromagnetic
Modes (TEM) (see
section 4.3). Transverse Modes can be seen
on screen perpendicular to the beam propagation.