Finite element analysis of thermal distortion of electro-optic crystal for high average power laser systems

The thermodynamics of electro-optic switches with such materials as KDP, DKDP, LiNbO3 and BBO is analyzed by use of finite element methods with different laser intensity distributions such as the Gaussian, super-Gaussian under two mechanical boundaries, the free boundary and the fixed boundary independently. The results indicate that the ultimate axial displacements on the surfaces of the crystal increase with the increase of the order of Gaussian beams while the crystal has free boundaries, and the ultimate thermal stress in the crystal increases with the increase of the order of Gaussian beams while the crystal has fixed boundaries. The influences of the tackling states on these two parameters increase while the order of Gaussian beams increases. Irradiated by the same laser source and u