A novel laser cavity structure is disclosed which pertains to laser
resonator geometries possessing circular symmetry, such as in the case of
disk or spherical lasers. The disclosed invention utilizes a very-high
finesse Bragg reflector (VHF-BR) thin film reflectors of many layer pairs
of very small refractive index difference, the VHF-BR deposited on a
surface of revolution, thereby forming an optical cavity. These
dielectric reflectors are disposed in such a way as to allow selection of
preferred low order modes and suppression of parasitic modes while
allowing a high cavity Q factor for preferred modes. The invention
disclosed, in its preferred embodiments, is seen as particularly useful
in applications requiring high efficiency in the production and coupling
of coherent radiation. This is accomplished in a cavity design that is
relatively compact and economical. Of particular novelty is the
combination of the disclosed cavity design with polymer multilayers. The
ability to deposit an unusually large number of polymer thin films
without loss of specularity, while maintaining very low extinction,
renders the disclosed polymer-based cavity particularly well-suited for
higher mode discrimination, more rugged and light-weight cavities, as
well as economical fabrication.