Enhancing the field of view of a distributed-cavity laser incorporating cat-eye optics by compensating the field-curvature.

• The receiver field of view (FoV) of a distributed-cavity laser incorporates cat-eye optics was investigated. • We found that the field curvature (FC) significantly impacts FoV when the laser incorporates long working distances. • The effect of FC can be compensated by choosing proper lens and mirror parameters, or by using a customized aspheric lens. • We proposed three different optimized cat-eye designs with FC corrected. An aperture-limited FoV of over ±20° was realized. The influence of field curvature (FC) on a distributed-cavity laser incorporating cat-eye optics was theoretically and experimentally investigated. We found that the FC can defocus the cat-eye and seriously limit its field of view (FoV), since the cavity stability region becomes very narrow at long working distances of several meters. Three improved cat-eye designs are demonstrated, in which the FC-induced defocusing was compensated by choosing off-the-shelf components with appropriate parameters or by using a customized aspheric lens. With these new designs, a distributed-cavity diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO 4 laser was capable of operating efficiently within a large receiver FoV of ±20°, which was an order of magnitude larger than that achieved prior to optimization (using a traditional cat-eye design), at a long working distance of 5 m. The effectiveness and robustness of these new designs pave the way for alignment-free lasers with long-distributed-cavities, which are essential for resonant laser charging applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]