Simulation of diffraction effects of anti-reflection microstructures used as intra-cavity optical elements.

The anti-reflection microstructures (ARMs) have been widely used due to their many advantages as compared with traditional films, such as high transmittance at required wavelength, high damage threshold, and resistance to corrosive environments etc. Some recent applications use ARMs as intra-cavity optical elements in laser systems. Due to the presence of microstructures, ARMs may also add diffraction effects on the features of the transmitted laser beams or the resonator's eigenmodes. In this paper, we simulate the diffraction effects of ARMs that used as intra-cavity optical elements, and propose some further considerations.