Polarization control of a Yb:YAG ceramic microchip laser by constructive-interference resonant grating mirror

A laser output coupler comprising a resonant grating submirror monolithically associated with a multilayer submirror according to a constructive interference scheme polarizes the emission of a rare-earth-doped YAG-ceramic microchip laser over its full bandwidth. The design and fabrication of the resonant grating mirror are described. A polarization contrast ratio of more than 1000 was obtained with single transverse mode operation.