Compact 120 TW Ti:sapphire laser system with a high gain final amplifier

A 120 TW/36 fs laser system based on Ti:sapphire chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) has been successfully established in our lab. The final four pass Ti:sapphire amplifier pumped by an energetic single-shot Nd:YAG—Nd:glass laser was designed and optimized. With 24 J/8 ns pump energy at 532 nm, 300 mJ/220 ps chirped pulse was amplified to 5.98 J in this amplifier, and a total saturated gain of 20 was achieved. The focused intensity of compressed beam could reach to 10²⁰ W/cm² with the M² of 2.0.     

Picosecond laser amplification system with 93 W high average power

A high average power picosecond laser amplification system with diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ and diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG is described. Laser with power up to 92.7 W, repetition frequency of 73.3 MHz, pulse duration of 26.5 ps, and beam quality of M² < 3.5 is generated in the amplification system. Thermal-birefringence-induced depolarization in the Nd:YAG rod laser head amplifier is measured to be 21.9 W though birefringence compensation is performed.     

Properties of single picosecond pulses from neodymium:Phosphate glass

Streak camera detection has been used to determine the temporal characteristics of pulses from Nd:phosphate glass used as a mode-locked laser oscillator and as an amplifier. The frequency doubled pulses are not transform limited (Δν = 46 cm^-1, Δt = 6 ps). The fourth harmonic has a spectral bandwidth of 11 cm^-1 and is tunable across the full bandwidth of the second harmonic. Temperature tuning characteristics and efficiencies for harmonic generation are described. A comparison is made with the properties of Nd:silicate glass.     

Improvement in solar-pumped Nd:YAG laser beam brightness

Solar-pumped solid-state lasers are promising for renewable extreme-temperature material processing. Here we report a large improvement in solar laser beam brightness by pumping a thin Nd:YAG single crystal rod. A fused silica light guide of 14 mm×22 mm rectangular cross-section is used to both transmit and homogenize the concentrated solar radiation from the focal zone of a 2.88 m² parabolic mirror to the entrance aperture of a modified 2D-CPC flooded pump cavity, within which a 4 mm diameter rod is efficiently pumped. 2.2% slope efficiency is reached. Laser beam brightness figure of merit B is three times higher than that of the most recent solar-pumped Nd:YAG laser by a Fresnel lens. The introduction of the rectangular cross-section light guide has also ensured a much more stable laser emission than previous pumping schemes.     

Highly efficient diode side-pumped Nd:YAG ceramic laser with 210 W output power

We developed a highly efficient diode side-pumped Nd:YAG ceramic laser with a diffusive reflector as an optical pump cavity. A maximum output power of 211.6 W was obtained with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 48.7%. This corresponds to the highest conversion efficiency in the side-pumped ceramic rod. Thermal effects of the Nd:YAG ceramic rod were analyzed in detail through the measurements of laser output powers and beam profiles near the critically unstable region. A M² beam quality factor of 18.7 was obtained at the maximum laser output power.     

The optical properties and laser characteristics of Cr and Nd co-doped Y3Al5O12 ceramics

We have fabricated Cr³⁺ and Nd³⁺ co-doped YAG (Cr;Nd:YAG) ceramics, and investigated their optical properties and laser characteristics. The Cr;Nd:YAG has two broad absorption bands at around 440 nm (⁴A₂→⁴T₁) and 600 nm (⁴A₂→⁴T₂) respectively, caused by Cr³⁺ ions. In the case of pumping at 440 nm, the maximum effective lifetime of the Cr;Nd:YAG was 737 μs with a 0.1 at% Cr³⁺ and 1.0 at% Nd³⁺ co-doped YAG sample. Cr³⁺ ions take a role of an effective sensitizer to convert the UV light of flashlamp. For single-shot laser operation, a 10.4 J output energy at 1064 nm was obtained with 0.1 at% Cr³⁺ and 1.0 at% Nd³⁺ co-doped YAG ceramic rod with a laser efficiency of 4.9%. The laser efficiency was found to be more than twice that of a 1.0 at % Nd³⁺:YAG ceramic rod.     

1 mJ, 500 kHz Nd:YAG/Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> MOPA laser with a Nd:YAG cavity-dumping seed laser

We report a high-repetition-rate, high-pulse-energy master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) laser system, in which the seed laser from the Nd:YAG rod-based oscillator cavity dumped at 500 kHz, was scaled up consecutively by a four-stage Nd:YVO₄ preamplifier and a two-stage Nd:YAG zigzag slab main amplifier. The laser pulsed output with the average power of 510 W was achieved, with the efficiency extraction of 26.6% at the main amplifier stage and the single-pulse energy of 1.02 mJ.     

High-efficiency flashlamp-pumped Nd:KGW laser

The laser performance of a Nd:KGW rod has been studied in a single flashlamp cavity in the free running as well as in the Q-switched mode of operation at input energies ranging from 1–25J. The results of Nd:KGW have been compared with Nd:YAG operated under identical experimental conditions. The laser extraction efficiency of the Nd:KGW rod was observed to be 2.5 times higher at a much lower threshold than that of the Nd:YAG rod. The intrinsic slope efficiency was determined to be 2.25% and 8.840% for Nd:YAG and Nd:KGW rods, respectively.     

Measurement of the figure of merit of indigenously developed Nd-doped phosphate laser glass rods for use in high power lasers

High energy, high power (HEHP) Nd:glass laser systems are used for inertial confinement fusion and equation of state (EOS) studies of materials at high temperature and pressure. A program has been undertaken for the indigenous development of Nd-doped phosphate laser glass rods and discs for HEHP lasers. In this paper, we report the characterization of the Nd-doped phosphate laser glass rods produced under this program and compare the indigenously developed laser glass to LHG-8 laser glass of M/s Hoya, Japan. We experimentally measured the values of the stimulated emission cross-section (σ) and coefficient of intensity-dependent refractive index (n ₂) and hence the figure of merit F = σ / n₂ of the indigenous phosphate laser glass rods. This value is found comparable to the reported value of identically doped Nd:glass rods.     

Far infrared sub-nanosecond pulse generation in GaP with a time-synchronized mode-locked double-frequency Nd: Glass laser system

Light pulses of 149 m wavelength and 700 ps duration are generated by non-collinear phase-matched difference frequency mixing of laser pulses at 1053.5 and 1061 nm in a (110) cut GaP crystal. The pump laser pulses are generated in a time-synchronized mode-locked double-frequency Nd:glass laser system consisting of a silicate glass branch and a phosphate glass branch. A photon conversion efficiency of 4 × 10^–6 is achieved. The non-linear susceptibility constant of GaP is determined to be d ₁₄ = (10 ± 1) pm V^–1.     

72-kW high-peak-power linearly-polarized single-mode pulsed fiber laser with 80 kHz repetition rate and 4.5 ns duration

We reported a 26 W linearly polarized single-mode Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber amplifier, working at 80 kHz repetition rate with 4.5 ns duration, corresponding 72 kW peak power. Using a acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YVO₄ laser as the seed source, the 26 W average power of 1064 nm laser was obtained at a repetition rate of 80 kHz from a Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber amplifier, with 4.5 ns duration, polarization extinction ratio 11 dB and M ² < 1.2.     

High-beam-quality, 5.1 J, 108 Hz diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod oscillator-amplifier laser system

A high efficiency, high beam quality diode-pumped Nd:YAG master oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) laser with six amplifier stages is demonstrated. The oscillator with two-rod birefringence compensation was designed as a thermally determined near hemispherical resonator, which presents a pulse energy of 223 mJ with a beam quality value of M² = 1.29 at a repetition rate of 108 Hz. The MOPA system delivers a pulse energy of 5.1 J with a pulse width of 230 μs, a M² factor of 3.6 and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 38.5%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest pulse energy for a diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser operation with a high beam quality and a pulse width of hundreds of microseconds at a repetition rate of over 100 Hz.     

Blue laser emission by intracavity second harmonic generation in Nd:ASL pumped by a tapered amplifier laser diode stabilized by a volume Bragg grating

We present the diode pumping of a Nd:ASL (Sr_1-xLa_x-yNd_yMg_xAl_12-xO₁₉) crystal for second harmonic generation at 453 nm. We have developed a high-brightness pump source based on a tapered amplifier in an extended cavity with a volume Bragg grating for wavelength stabilization. A pump brightness of 110 MW cm^-2 sr^-1 is obtained with a linewidth lower than 80 pm at 798 nm. This laser source is used to pump a Nd:ASL crystal to obtain 300 mW at 906 nm and 53 mW at 453 nm by intracavity doubling with a LBO crystal. PACS  42.55.Xi; 42.55.Px; 42.65.Ky     

120 W high repetition rate Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> MOPA laser with a Nd:YAG cavity-dumped seed laser

A master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system in which the output from an end-pumped Nd:YAG oscillator cavity dumped at 500 kHz is scaled up by a four-stage Nd:YVO₄ amplifier is reported. Decrease in extraction efficiency of the amplifier chain with crystals different from that in the oscillator was analyzed. With the 5.4 W seed output, 118 W of power was extracted from the amplifier chain at the pump power of 345 W, with an extraction efficiency of 34.2% and an overall optical–optical efficiency of 30.9% for the MOPA system. The beam quality factors were measured as M _x ²=1.45 and M _y ²=1.59 in two orthogonal directions, respectively.     

High efficiency Tm fiber laser of seed amplification

We use all-fiber single-mode lasers as seed source, amplifiers and pump laser coupling amplifier has been experimentally investigated, respectively. The maximum output power is 10.4 W, with the slope efficiency of 54.4% when the seed laser power is 1 W, and the slope efficiency is 48.7% when the seed laser power is 2 W. The slope efficiency of this scheme is higher than that of the all-fiber amplifier. This can be explained by the loss of pump power at the splice dots. The wavelength of the fiber amplifier is 1947.6 nm, the same as the seed laser's, with a linewidth of 2 nm. We estimate the beam quality to be M² = 2.39, clearly indicating nearly diffraction-limited beam propagation.     

1 J,1 Hz lamp-pumped high-gain Nd:phosphate glass laser amplifier

We present a lamp-pumped Nd: phosphate glass laser amplifier delivering up to 1 J of pulse energy at 1053 nm with a repetition rate of 1 Hz and an injected pulse energy of 2.5 mJ. The amplifier system employs a beamshaping module and a four-pass, lamp-pumped amplifier. The thermally induced wavefront distortion is mitigated and a uniform gain distribution is obtained by a four-lamp-pumped laser head in the amplifier. Thus,an excellent beam quality is obtained.     

Compact directly diode-pumped femtosecond Nd:glass chirped-pulse-amplification laser system

An all-solid-state longitudinally diode-pumped Nd:glass chirped-pulse-amplification laser system producing pulses of 50-MW peak power has been developed. The diode-pumped Nd:glass regenerative amplifier produces pulses with energies as great as 56microJ at a 1-kHz repetition rate and pulse durations as short as 450 fs after compression in a compact single holographic-transmission-grating stretcher-compressor arrangement. Further, spectral gain shaping was shown to extend the bandwidth that was supported in the low-gain amplifier. To the best of our knowledge, this system provides the highest peak and average power obtained from a directly diode-pumped femtosecond laser.     

A compact subnanosecond high power Nd:YAG laser system

In this paper, a high power Nd:YAG laser system is described, which consists of an actively-passively mode-locked Nd:YAG laser oscillator with variable subnanosecond pulsewidths (200 ps to 1 ns), a Pockels-cell shutter and a coaxial four-pass Nd:YAG amplifier. With the oscillator operating in the colliding pulse regime, and a BDN dye film as the saturable absorber, and an acousto-optic modulator as the active modelocker, we have achieved a shot-to-shot stability of the pulse-train amplitude < ±4%. For a 0.1 mJ, 200 ps laser pulse, we obtained four-pass amplification of 7 × 10² with a pump energy of 106 J.     

A MOPA with double-end pumped configuration using total internal reflection

We presented a Nd:YAG master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) with the compact LD double-end pumped configuration. To acquire the homogenous absorption distribution, a composite short Nd:YAG rod has been employed as the amplification medium and the rod side was well polished to cause total internal reflection (TIR) at the internal wall of the rod. Because the axes of pump LDs and the seed laser occupy the same position, it is relatively easy to obtain both the satisfied mode-matching efficiency and the high absorption efficiency by using two stacked-LD modules. A seed laser, with the input energy of 15 mJ and the pulse width of 46 ns, was amplified through the MOPA structure with the one-pass gain of about 1.2. We have not found any parasitic oscillations from both ends of the amplifier rod until the total pump LD power reached 420 W. The proposed scheme is thought to be useful in a multiple-pass MOPA system for high-average-power applications.     

Real-time autocorrelator with enhanced temporal scan range for measurements of ultrashort laser pulses

A simple, low-cost light emitting diode-based quasi-real-time autocorrelator has been developed with two-fold enhancement in temporal scan range than conventional commercial autocorrelators. We use the technique of twin audio-speaker, but avoid the complex electronic circuitry to achieve two 180° out-of-phase ramp signals. Next, the use of pick-up coils, switching electronics and sum amplifier to generate a time marker signal for autocorrelation signal measurement is also dispensed with. The suitability of our setup is demonstrated by recording autocorrelation signals of 200 fs laser pulses from Nd:phosphate oscillator under different ramp signal voltages.