Transverse mode instability as a concept different from other modal instabilities was discovered as recently as 2011. Transverse mode instability, or TMI, refers to a degradation of the beam quality of the fundamental mode when the pump power is pushed beyond a certain critical value. Since it was first written about, many explanations and solutions have arisen in the literature. We will try to cover most of those here!
Table of Contents:
WHY DOES TMI OCCUR?
The physics behind transverse mode instability is quite interesting!
SOLUTIONS