The thermal effect in a grazing-incidence slab laser with the novel composite cooling method

The thermal properties of the grazing-incidence slab laser are investigated when cooling with a novel composite method, both conducted cooling and air cooling. The 3D temperature distribution and the correspondent thermal lensing effect were analytically modeled and numerically calculated. The absorption saturation and stress-optic effect were taken into account in the modeling. The influence of the parameters of the laser on the thermal lensing effect were investigated in detail. The results show a lower temperature and weaker thermal lensing effect for the composite cooling than for the traditional contaction cooling.     

复合结构掠入射板条放大器热效应的模拟分析

为了研究复合结构掠入射板条放大器的热效应,采用在Nd:YVO4晶体抽运面上键合具有高热导率性能的蓝宝石的复合结构,并建立了相应的热力学模型,对激光介质的温度场分布、光程差（OPD）和热透镜效应进行了详细的理论分析,利用有限元分析软件COMSOL模拟了晶体内部的温度、应变、光程差（OPD）及热焦距的分布情况。结果表明,板条厚度为2 mm、键合层厚度1 mm、抽运功率60 W时,复合结构相对于单一结构最高温度下降了约50 K,晶体中的最大形变量降低超过了1/3,极大地降低了介质中的热效应。     

Measurement of the thermal lens of grazing-incidence diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser amplifier

The thermally induced lensing effects of a diode-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser amplifier in a grazing incidence bounce geometry are carefully measured experimentally. Measurements of the thermal effects are interpreted by considering the diode-pumped amplifier region as a thick lens. A more detailed modeling was made of a quadratic refractive index lens duct for the normal to the bounce plane distribution. Due to the asymmetric pumping the thermal lens shows significant astigmatism. The ratio between dioptric powers in the plane normal to bounce and in the bounce plane is measured to be approximately 20. A nonlinear component of the power dependence of the lens is observed and related to the nonlinear heating induced by energy transfer upconversion. Measurements made under non-lasing conditions are used to infer thermal lensing behavior under lasing conditions and this allows optimization of optical resonator design.     

掠入射板条放大器链的热效应模拟分析

对LD泵浦的掠入射板条放大器链系统激光介质的热效应进行研究。针对掠入射放大器结构建立了相应的热力学模型,对激光介质的温度场分布、热致波前畸变和热透镜效应进行了详细的理论分析。利用有限元分析软件COMSOL模拟了晶体内部的温度、应力及应变的分布情况,并进一步讨论了板条厚度、泵浦尺寸以及种子光入射角对光程差和热透镜造成的影响。结果表明,随着泵浦光斑尺寸和种子光入射角的增大,光程差变小,热透镜效应减弱;板条厚度对光程差和热透镜的影响较小。模拟计算结果对于预测板条热效应的强弱、热效应的补偿,以及放大器链结构参数的设计提供了依据。     

Theoretical investigation on thermal lensing effects of Yb:KY(WO4)2 in diode-pumped lasers

Based on the features of laser diode end-pumped lasers, a thermal model of Yb:KY(WO₄)₂(Yb:KYW) with square cross-section was established. Considering the heat transfer on side faces, the anisotropic of thermal conductivity and the latest reports about thermo-optic coefficient, thermal expansion coefficient and thermal conductivity, temperature distribution, end-pumped face distortion and thermal lens focal length of Yb:KYW were more precisely obtained using finite difference method to solve Poisson equation in a rectangular Cartesian coordinate for the first time. At the pump power of 14 W, the highest temperature located at the center of end-pumped face was 243.8 °C, the highest distortion was 0.28 μm, and the thermal lens focal length was 5.4 cm along z-axis and −4.9 cm along x-axis. The results show that thermal lensing effects in the b-cut Yb:KYW were mainly determined by the anisotropic thermal expansion of Yb:KYW, and further present thermal lensing effects become weaker after considering the heat transfer. This work is significant for compensating the thermal lensing effect and improving the resonator stability of diode-pumped anisotropy crystal lasers.     

Nonlinear absorption and refraction effect on thermal lensing of solid-state laserrods

In this work, the effect of nonlinear absorption and refraction on thermal lensing of an end-pumped solid-state laser rod is investigated. At high input pump powers and on the focused region of thermal lensing, nonlinear responses of the active medium will be important. By considering the nonlinear absorption and refraction, the intensity distribution inside the rod is obtained. A convergence lens models the intensity dependency of the refractive index. By modeling of the laser rod with some contributed effective lenses, the stability condition of a typical laser resonator is investigated.     

热透镜控制激光光束质量技术研究

在端面抽运固体激光器中,就如何改善在高抽运功率时输出激光的光束质量,提出一种激光器的设计方法。在激光器谐振腔中放入多根掺杂浓度不同的激光介质,利用激光介质内部产生的热透镜控制抽运光和基模振荡光的空间分布,并且最大限度地使抽运光的分布区和基模振荡光分布区重叠,实现抽运光与基模振荡光在空间上高度匹配,进而提高抽运光能量的利用效率和振荡光的光束质量。实验表明,在不同抽运功率下,抽运光和基模振荡光在晶体内部的光斑的空间分布可通过热透镜加以控制。在端面抽运功率200 W附近时,实现了抽运光与基模振荡光较高程度匹配,光束质量因子M2由14.7改善为4.1。     

Influences of pump beam distribution on thermal lensing spherical aberration in an LD end-pumped Nd:YAG laser

A numerical investigation is made on the thermal lensing and spherical aberration effect in an LD end-pumped Nd:YAG laser. Based on the finite element method (FEM), the laser rod temperature distribution is calculated and the focal length of the thermal lens is deduced, the influences of pump beam on the thermal lensing spherical aberration are mainly studied. The results show the thermal lens which focal length varied with the radial coordinate r is not an ideal lens. Given the heat dissipation boundary conditions, the radial dependent focal length will be shortened when the pump power raised or the waist radius of the pump beam reduced, meanwhile the radial differences of the focal length will decrease when the pump power increased. For a Super-Gaussian profile pump beam, the higher the exponent number, the more similar to flat top the pump beam is, and the less the radial differences of the focal length are.     

Thermal effects in high-power Nd:YAG disk-type solid state laser

An investigation of thermal effects in a high-power Nd:YAG disk-type solid state laser pumped with different pump beam transverse profiles is carried out by numerical simulation based on the finite element method (FEM). Impact of the heat sink on the thermal effects is included in the simulation. The distribution of first principle stress, thermally induced birefringence, including the distribution and variation of the birefringence loss, are studied. The characteristics of the phase variation are analyzed with consideration of the temperature gradient, deformation, strain and thermal stress. Thermal lensing is explored as a function of pump power and of the radius pumped with different pump beam transverse profiles. The non-parabolic part of optical phase distortion is simulated. Furthermore, the characteristics of the bi-focus of the disk laser are also studied. Experiments on the maximum tensile stress distribution and depolarization loss are carried out. The presented calculations are in qualitative agreement with the experimental observations.     

Valley density profile for highly efficient x-ray lasers with good beam quality

A plasma with a valley density profile at the required electron density for high-gain operation of an x-ray laser could be obtained using a normally incident 300 ps laser pulse followed by a grazing-incident 300 ps laser pulse. Sudden heating of the valley plasma region by another grazing-incident 300 fs laser pulse would then yield a highly efficient x-ray laser beam with a deflecting angle of 2 mrad and a divergence angle of 4 mrad. Saturation operation of the x-ray laser beam at 32.6 nm could be achieved with a total pump energy of less than 100 mJ.     

High-power non-astigmatic TEM<Subscript>00</Subscript> and vortex mode generation in a compact bounce laser design

A novel design of a diode-side-pumped bounce amplifier laser is described that can produce a high-power TEM₀₀ mode and Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) vortex mode operation with high circularity and low astigmatism. The design utilises control of pump size and bounce angle such that the laser mode experiences substantially circular symmetric gain and spherical thermal lensing, in a highly compact fundamental mode resonator. In a simple plane–plane Nd:YVO₄ laser resonator with no other optical components and total length of just 13.4 cm, highly circularised TEM₀₀ operation is produced at wavelength 1064 nm, with 14.2 W of power and high beam quality M ²<1.05. Stable Q-switched TEM₀₀ operation is demonstrated up to 900 kHz and second harmonic power of 7.2 W at 532 nm is generated with conversion efficiency up to 64%. Minor modification of the design to exploit the spherical aberration of the thermal lens is shown to allow for generation of a doughnut-shaped LG vortex mode with average power 16.6 W, maintaining extremely low astigmatism. Q-switched operation of the vortex mode is accomplished up to 400 kHz. A detailed numerical thermal analysis of the amplifier design is performed and gives quantitative agreement with experimental results.     

Design of Highly Directive Ni-Like Ag X-Ray Laser at 13.9nm

We theoretically investigate a 13.9nm Ni-like Ag x-ray laser using a one-dimensional hydrodynamic code coupled with an atomic physics data package. The population inversion is transiently pumped by a grazing incident 0.5ps main pulse irradiating into an optimized plasma, which is generated by a normal incidence 300ps pulse and a subsequent grazing incidence 300ps pulse. The effect of the grazing-incidence angle on the source position of the output x-ray laser is investigated. Near zero deflecting angle is found for the peak output intensity of the Ni-like Ag x-ray lasers, with a small FWHM divergence of 5mrad. It is predicted that saturation can be achieved with a total pump energy of 165mJ.     

Thermal effects investigation and cavity design in passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser with a SESAM

A diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:YVO₄ laser with a five-mirror folded cavity is presented by using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The temperature distribution and thermal lensing in laser medium are numerically analyzed to design a special cavity which can keep the power density on SESAM under its damage threshold. Both the Q-switched and continuous-wave mode-locked operation are experimentally realized. The maximum average output power of 8.94 W with a 9.3 ps pulse width at a repetition rate of 111 MHz is obtained under a pump power of 24 W, correspondingly the optical slope efficiency is 39.2%.     

Efficient and high-power intracavity frequency doubled diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG/KTP continuous wave (CW) green laser

Highly efficient continuous wave (CW) green beam generation by intracavity frequency doubling of a diode side-pumped Nd:YAG laser using a single pump head based on a copper-coated flow tube in a V-shaped cavity geometry has been demonstrated. A maximum 30.5 W of CW green power was obtained at a total diode pumping power of 260 W corresponding to 11.7% conversion efficiency of diode pump power to CW green power and 4.7% conversion efficiency of electrical power to CW green power. The performance of the laser by considering the pump power induced thermal lensing effect and the M²-parameter at the fundamental wavelength has been analyzed.     

LD端面抽运Nd∶KGW 激光器热效应的理论与实验研究

对LD端面泵浦Nd∶KGW激光器的热效应进行了分析.求解热传导方程得出了Nd∶KGW晶体的温度分布和端面形变,进而计算出了热焦距随泵浦功率的变化曲线,并通过实验对其正确性进行了验证.采用凹 平腔,在不同透过率的输出镜下,对Nd∶KGW晶体的1 064 nm连续激光输出特性进行了研究.     

Influence of spatial mode matching in end-pumped solid state lasers

We present investigations on the influence of mode matching on the efficiency of longitudinally pumped solid state lasers. In a theoretical part we enhance an existing model for four level lasers from idealized cylindrical modes to arbitary pump and laser modes in a random relative position thereby neglecting beam deformation due to thermal effects. The theoretical predictions were confirmed experimentally with an end-pumped Nd:YAG rod operated at 1064 nm. To investigate the effect of misalignment on the efficiency we used a Ti-Sapphire pump laser which was displaced relative to the laser beam. To establish the influence of arbitary pump modes on laser performance a diode laser equipped with coupling optics served as pump source for the same resonator. The resulting decrease in slope efficiency compared to the Ti-Sapphire pumped system could be explained in terms of limited mode overlap due to the characteristic pump field distribution produced by the diode coupling optics.     

Estimation of thermal lensing effect in the high-power end-pumped direct-cut crystal lasers

At this working, analytical (with Gaussian pump beam profile) and numerical FEM (with super-Gaussian pump beam profile) methods were compared for estimation of thermal lensing effect in the diode-end-pumped solid-state laser rods. These results were applied to the design and realization of a direct-cut (i.e., cut in right-angle ) crystal Nd:YVO₄ laser. The results showed that for such crystal (direct-cut), two methods obtained almost the same results, but slightly different from experimental results. However, estimation of thermal lensing effect led to realization of a diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ cw high-power laser with good optical quality.     

高功率半导体激光端面泵浦方形掺Nd3+离子激光晶体热形变研究

为了解决高功率半导体激光器端面泵浦激光晶体引起的热效应问题,激光晶体泵浦端面的热形变必须进行准确的计算.通过对于全固态激光器中激光晶体的工作特点分析,建立了矩形截面激光晶体热分析模型.基于热传导方程,提出了泊松方程的一种新解,并获得了矩形截面激光晶体端面热形变分布的一般解析表达式.同时讨论了半导体激光器偏心泵浦激光晶体给端面热形变带来的影响.与有限元分析方法以及其他数值分析方法相比,解析分析方法不会给计算引入任何的误差.热形变的解析分析为解决激光晶体的热效应问题以及提高激光器的性能提供了理论的依据.     

Pressure tuning of thermal lensing for high-power scaling

A new concept is introduced whereby thermal stresses generated through the pumping process are canceled by an applied force. By use of a Nd:YVO(4) disk laser as a model system, significant reduction of thermal lensing and deformation is demonstrated as a function of applied pressure, and the output power (19 W TEM(00)) is limited only by the available pump power.     

A time-compensated spectral filter for transform-limited tunable picosecond pulse generation from spectro-temporal-selection dye lasers

Diffraction and transform-limited picosecond tunable pulses are generated from Spectro-temporal-Selection (STS) dye lasers by using a new extra-cavity filter. This filter is based on a grazing-incident grating and arranged in the configuration of a folded dispersive delay line. Thus, it provides both high spectral selectivity and controllable temporal compensation for elimination of pulse broadening. Direct production of diffraction- and transform-limited picosecond dye laser (10 µJ, 50 ps) pulses spectrally adjustable between 398 and 702 nm is demonstrated in a compact device, with 8 ns pump pulses from a nanosecond nitrogen laser.