Analytical model for thermal lensing and spherical aberration in diode side-pumped Nd:YAG laser rod having Gaussian pump profile

In this paper, according to the temperature and strain distribution obtained by considering the Gaussian pump profile and dependence of physical properties on temperature, we derive an analytical model for refractive index variations of the diode side-pumped Nd:YAG laser rod. Then we evaluate this model by numerical solution and our maximum relative errors are 5% and 10% for variations caused by thermo–optical and thermo–mechanical effects; respectively. Finally, we present an analytical model for calculating the focal length of the thermal lens and spherical aberration. This model is evaluated by experimental results.     

The LD end-pumped Q-switched solid-state laser design software based on the adaptive method

In the LD end-pumped acousto-optic (A-O) Q-switched solid-state laser, according to the requirements of users on the laser peak power, the pulse width, the repetition rate and the beam quality factor M², if the main parameters of the pumping source and the laser resonator can be pre-designed by a software, will effectively guide experiments, and save cost. A kind of laser design software is introduced in this paper, which is based on the adaptive adjustment method and using MATLAB/C mixed programming. According to the user requirements, a compact LD end-pumped A-O Q-switched Nd:YAG laser which peak power is 100-kW-class can be designed and actual outputs can be calculated based on the design results. Drawing the laser pulse waveform, analyzing of the thermal effect in laser gain medium and drawing the temperature distribution map, exporting and saving the data are the additional functions of this software.     

数值模拟抽运分布对端泵激光器晶体热透镜球差的影响

为了研究端面抽运情况下,激光晶体在不同分布的抽运光抽运时热透镜球差的变化,通过对稳态热传导方程和Zernike多项式的求解,建立了热透镜球差与抽运光强度分布的模型,对模型进行了理论分析和仿真研究,并对仿真结果做了进一步理论和仿真分析.结果表明:在相同的抽运功率下,二阶超高斯分布抽运光抽运时球差最大,且随着抽运分布系数k的增大(除高斯分布外)球差逐渐减小;随着抽运功率的增加,抽运分布系数k对球差的影响逐渐加重,且不同分布系数k所产生的球差差距逐渐增大;并对二阶超高斯分布抽运光抽运得到最强激光功率的照射范围进行了理论分析和仿真分析,得知在相同抽运功率下,二阶超高斯分布抽运光得到最强激光功率的范围最宽为0.30—0.63倍高斯半径.     

885 nm LD end-pumped 22.7 W high beam quality electro-optical Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

We report an 885 nm laser diode (LD) end-pumped high beam quality (M _x ² = 1.322, M _y ² = 1.235) electro-optical Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with TEM₀₀-mode output for the first time. At the absorbed pump power of 59.5 W, a 22.7 W 1064 nm laser was achieved at 10 kHz repetition rate with optical-to-optical efficiency of 38.1%. The maximum pulse energy and shortest pulse width were 5.1 mJ and 14.5 ns at 2 kHz repetition rate, and the calculated peak power was 352 kW.     

Reduction of beam divergence of a thermal lensing insensitive Nd:YAG laser

In a previous paper we proposed an active resonator designed especially for Nd:YAG lasers. The beam generated by this resonator had a flat-top beam profile and a divergence that was insensitive to the thermal lensing effect. The beam generated by this resonator was, however, too divergent to be focused into a fibre. With the help of numerical simulations, we have found a way to reduce this divergence, and to render the far-field of the laser beam fine enough to be coupled into a fibre with 600 μm core and NA = 0.2.     

紧凑型LD端面抽运Nd:YAG内腔三倍频准连续355 nm紫外激光器

报道了一台LD端面抽运Nd:YAG晶体内腔三倍频355 nm激光高效率、高峰值功率准连续输出的全固态紫外激光器.激光腔采用紧凑型平平直腔,腔长仅106 mm.当注入抽运功率为5.73 W、重复频率为9 kHz时,获得163 mW的355 nm激光准连续输出,光光转换效率达到最高2.84％.当注入抽运功率为6.7 W重复频率为5 kHz时,获得最高174 mW的355 nm激光准连续输出,输出功率短期不稳定性为5％,光束质量因子M²为3.79.当注入抽运功率为5.73 W、重复频率为2 kHz时,获得112 mW的355 nm激光准连续输出,峰值功率最高达到9.15 kW.通过采用内腔倍频技术和设计合理的腔结构,实现了中小功率准连续输出的全固态紫外激光器的小型化、便携化,进一步拓宽了紫外激光器的应用领域. 关键词： LD端面抽运 内腔三倍频 Q')" href="#">声光调Q 紫外激光     

Compact high-power end-pumped Nd:YAG laser

We present a compact diode- and end-pumped Nd:YAG laser for material processing with an output power of 238 W, an optical-to-optical efficiency of 48% and a slope efficiency of 60%. This is to the best of our knowledge the highest optical efficiency for a high-power end-pumped Nd:YAG laser.     

Diode end-pumped high-efficiency Nd:YAG laser

A close-coupled scheme has been developed to end-pump the Nd:YAG rod using diode lasers tuned to 808 nm. By using a single diode laser, an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of about 40% has been demonstrated in the multimode operation at 1064 nm.     

High power diode-side-pumped 1 112-nm Nd:YAG laser based on master-oscillator power-amplifier system

We demonstrate a high power high beam quality diode-pumped 1 112-nm Nd：YAG master-oscillator power-amplifier （MOPA） laser system. To increase the extraction efficiency and output power, a four-pass amplifier scheme is employed. Finally, the injected laser output power is amplified from 26 to 64 W with beam quality factor M2=2.85. Furthermore, a theoretical model that takes the temporal overlap inversion number dynamics into account is employed to analyze the performance of the MOPA laser system, and a good agreement with the experimental data is obtained.     

LD end-pumped intracavity frequency doubled Yb:YAG laser

A laser diode end-pumped 10 at.% doped Yb:YAG microchip crystal intracavity frequency doubled all solid-stated green laser is reported in this paper. Using one plano-concave resonator, with the pump power of 1.2 W, 44.2 mW TEM₀₀ continuous wave (CW) laser at 525 nm was obtained, the optical conversion efficiency was about 3.7%. When a Cr:YAG crystal with initial transmission of 95.5% inserted in the resonator, the maximum output power of 6.4 mW, pulse duration width of 49.1 ns, pulse repetition rate of 2.45 kHz, and peak power of 53.1 W at 515 nm were achieved when the pump power was 1.2 W. The wavelength changed from 525 nm to 515 nm and the threshold was only 725 mW.     

LD端面泵浦薄片激光器的温度和热应力分布研究

为了分析薄片激光器的热效应,建立了LD端面泵浦薄片激光介质的数值模型。考虑到介质与空气的对流换热和介质材料的热力学参数随温度的变化,根据经典热传导方程和热弹性方程,运用有限单元法,得出了介质内温度和热应力的时空分布,分析了温度和热应力与泵浦功率、换热系数和时间的变化规律。模拟结果表明:热破坏主要为前表面光斑外侧的拉伸破裂;温度和应力的上升时间和热恢复时间随泵浦功率的变化不是很明显,随换热系数的增大而减小,但随着换热系数的增加,温度和应力的变化越来越小。     

LD端面泵浦不同掺杂离子YAG晶体的热效应研究

通过建立激光晶体热传导模型,针对相同基质YAG晶体不同掺杂离子,求解泊松方程,得到不同Nd3+和Yb3+掺杂浓度的YAG晶体内温度场分布,并进行了对比分析。研究结果表明:在相同条件下,随着Nd3+和Yb3+掺杂浓度的增加,YAG晶体端面中心温度升高,晶体中心轴温度衰减越快,热焦距越小;当Yb3+掺杂浓度达到Nd3+掺杂浓度的近10倍时,热效应基本相同。这一结论为降低同基质晶体的热效应提供了理论依据。     

High-peak-power,short-pulse-width,LD end-pumped,passively Q-switched Nd:YAG 946 nm laser

High-peak-power, short-pulse-width diode pumped 946 nm Nd:YAG laser in passively Q-switching operation with Cr⁴⁺:YAG is reported. The highest average output power reaches 3.4 W using the Cr⁴⁺:YAG with initial transmissivity T₀=95%. When the T₀=90% Cr⁴⁺:YAG is employed, the maximum peak power of 31.4 kW with a pulse width of 8.3 ns at 946 nm is generated.     

LD side-pumped 41 W high beam quality acousto-optical Q-switched single-rod Nd:YAG laser

We report a LD side-pumped high beam quality (M _x ² = 1.20 and M _y ² = 1.19) acousto-optic (AO) Q-switched single-rod Nd:YAG laser with a TEM₀₀-mode dynamic stable cavity. At the pump power of 600 W, 41 W TEM₀₀-mode 1064 nm laser was achieved with electro-optical conversion efficiency of 7%. The repetition rate and pulse width were 30 kHz and 102 ns, respectively with pulse energy of 1.4 mJ and peak power of 13 kW. Up to 24 W of 532 nm green laser was generated by external frequency doubling, corresponding to 59% optical conversion efficiency.     

Multi-wavelength operation of LD side-pumped Nd:YAG laser

A dual-wavelength laser at 1064 nm and 1319 nm is obtained by a single Nd:YAG crystal rod. On the basis of 1064 nm and 1319 nm dual-wavelength laser installation, the second harmonic waves at 532 nm and 660 nm can be achieved by using non-linear frequency conversion technology. When 1064 nm and 1319 nm lasers oscillate simultaneously, the maximum output power is 30.5 W and 8.78 W, respectively. When the 1319 nm laser is restrained, we obtain a 35.6 W maximum output power at 1064 nm and by contrary 11.2 W at 1319 nm. The maximum output powers of 532 nm and 660 nm lasers are 5.34 W and 1.353 W when oscillating simultaneously. With one of them restrained, the maximum output power is 6.72 W at 532 nm and 1.90 W at 660 nm. The optimum repetition rate of the acousto-optic Q-switch is 10.5 KHz and 20.5 KHz for 532 nm and 660 nm lasers, respectively. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency from the fundamental waves to the harmonic waves is 17.5% and 15.4%. The instability is less than 2%.     

Nd:YAG薄片激光器热致波前畸变

 理论分析了激光二极管端面泵浦薄片Nd:YAG 激光器的激光介质热效应对波前相位分布的影响,给出了薄片激光器波前热畸变的计算公式。数值模拟了理想均匀泵浦及4阶超高斯泵浦下的波前分布,分析了介质厚度和泵浦均匀性与波前畸变量的关系。研究表明,介质越薄,激光泵浦光均匀性越好,泵浦功率密度越小,激光波前畸变越小;与介质厚度、泵浦功率密度相比,泵浦光光强分布对波前的影响更为显著。     

LD side-pumped high beam quality passive Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YAG laser based on SESAM

We report a LD side-pumped fundamental-mode (Mx² = 1.35 and My² = 1.27) passive Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YAG laser based on a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). At a pump current of 12.5 A, the average output power of 5.68 W with 80 kHz repetition rate and 2 μs pulse width of the Q-switched envelope was generated. The repetition rate of the mode-locked pulse within the Q-switched envelope of 88 MHz was achieved.     

紧凑型激光二极管抽运全固态355 nm连续波紫外激光器

报道了一台激光二极管端面抽运Nd:YVO₄晶体内腔三倍频355 nm激光连续输出的全固态紫外激光器.激光腔采用紧凑型简单凹平直腔,腔长仅为70 mm.利用两块LBO晶体进行腔内倍频、和频,当注入抽运功率为2527 W时,获得最大功率为306 mW的355 nm连续波输出,光光转换效率为012％,输出功率短期不稳定性为53%,355 nm激光输出光束质量良好.通过采用内腔倍频技术和设计合理的腔参数,实现了中小功率连续输出的全固态紫外激光器的小型化、便携化,进一步拓宽了紫外激光器 关键词： 激光二极管端面抽运 内腔三倍频 连续波 355 nm激光     

Thermal lensing and spherical aberration in high-power transversally pumped laser rods

A precise knowledge of the thermal effects in laser crystals is very important for high-power laser design, but some relevant parameters are most often neglected in their calculation. In this paper, with the example of transversally pumped, high-power Nd:YAG lasers, we show the importance of the thermal dependence of the gain medium’s physical properties such as the thermal conductivity, the dn/dT and the expansion coefficient on the thermal aberration and thermal lensing values; we also prove that the choice of the resonator can influence the amount of spherical aberration. Finally, analytically calculated values are confronted to experimental values, and show a very good agreement.     

LD抽运的Nd:YAG陶瓷/KTP绿光激光器

报道了一种LD端面抽运Nd:YAG陶瓷、KTP腔内倍频的全固态连续波绿光激光器.当抽运功率为21.6 W时,1064 nm基频输出达到11.3 W,光—光转换效率为52.3%.采用Ⅱ类切割的KTP晶体作为腔内倍频介质,在直腔结构下获得了最大功率为1.86 W的532　nm绿光输出,光—光转换效率为7%.输出光斑具有高斯型强度分布,1 W输出时的M²因子约为1.7. 关键词： 全固态绿光激光器 Nd:YAG陶瓷 KTP倍频 直腔