Intracavity adaptive optic compensation of phase aberrations II: Passive cavity study for a small N_eq resonator

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Abstract
The results of a numerical study of the passive mode structure properties and far-field behavior of a linear positivebranch, confocal unstable resonator cavity with a small equivalent Fresnel number in the ideal unaberrated, intracavity phase-aberrated and intracavity phase-corrected states are presented. The analysis of Part I of this paper [J. Opt. Soc. Am. 71, 862–872 (1981)] is employed throughout to illuminate the numerical results obtained here. These numerical results illustrate both the limitation of the approximate geometrical theory to small applied aberration strengths and the powerful corrective capabilities afforded by an ideally configured intracavity adaptive optic element.