Mathieu-Gauss beams: A thermal consideration

The generation of Helmholtz-Gauss beam families such as Mathieu-Gauss (MG) and Bessel-Gauss (BG) beams can be dramatically suffered from heat-induced thermal effects. This work is devoted to the generation of MG beams under severe induced thermal loads. The output MG beams of a solid-state laser were assumed to pass through an ABCD system matrix. The simulated results which were achieved by characterization of the transfer matrix of the thermally affected inhomogeneous medium report systematic variations of the intensity profile of MG beams from pump power of 1-5 W. It is shown that for high values of pump power, the thermal effects are so influential and the beam intensity profile is so changed that the identification of MG beams is not easily possible at first hand. The results can facilitate this identification and can be utilized for deeper understanding of thermal effects phenomena.