Continuing advances in laser and photonic technology has seen the development of lasers with increasing power and increasingly short pulsewidths, which have become available over an increasing range of wavelengths. As the availability of laser sources grow, so do their applications. To make better use of this improving technology, understanding and controlling laser propagation in free space is critical, as is understanding the interaction between laser light and matter. The need to better control the light obtained from increasingly advanced laser sources leads to the emergence of beam engineering, the systematic understanding and control of light through refractive media and free space. Beam engineering enables control over the beam shape, energy and spectral composition during propagation, which can be achieved through a variety of means. In this dissertation, several methods of beam engineering are investigated. These methods enable improved control over the shape and propagation of laser light. Laser-matter interaction is also investigated, as it provides both a means to control the propagation of pulsed laser light through the atmosphere, and provides a means to generation remote sources of radiation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-3956 |
| Date | 01 January 2013 |
| Creators | Barbieri, Nicholas |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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