Experimental Inquiry into the Feasibility of Generating Laguerre-Gauss Modes at Laser Powers of Order 100W

We present the prototype development of an experiment to test the efficacy of higher order Laguerre-Gauss modes (specifically LG 33 ) with the technology of Advanced LIGO, namely high power lasers. Before experimenting with the 200 W laser in Hanover, the optical instruments were tested in Birmingham. By replicating the beam parameters of Hanover, we were able to characterize the beam incident on and outcoming from the diffractive optical element (DOE), which created the LG 33 mode, and a linear mode cleaner (LMC), which increased the purity of the higher-order LG beam. These results will serve as the control with which to compare the data collected in Hanover with the 200 W.