300 W quasi-continuous-wave diffraction-limited output from a diode-pumped Nd:YAG master oscillator power amplifier with fiber phase-conjugate stimulated Brillouin scattering mirror

A master oscillator power amplifier system comprising a cw Nd:YAG master oscillator, a quasi-cw diode-pumped power amplifier, and a fiber-based stimulated Brillouin scattering phase-conjugate mirror is reported. A 12-pass amplifier configuration is employed to achieve high gain in a small-length slab amplifier. Residual and pump-induced optical inhomogeneities in the slab are corrected by the fiber phase conjugator to achieve diffraction-limited output beam quality. 300 W quasi-cw output and a maximal attainable gain of approximately 150 for the system are obtained.     

Pump pulse characteristics of quasi-continuous-wave diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser

The influence of pumping laser pulse on the property of quasi-continuous-wave (QCW) diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Under remaining a fixed duty cycle, the average output power increases, and the corresponding thermal focal length shorten with the increase of the pump pulse duration, which attributes to the decrease of the ratio of pulse buildup time to the pulse duration. At a pump power of 146 W, the laser output power changes from 65.1 W to 81.2 W when the pulse duration is adjusted from 150 μ s to 1000 μ s, confirming a significant enhancement of 24.7%. A laser rate equation model incorporating the amplified spontaneous emission is also utilized and numerically solved, and the simulated results agree well with the experimental data.     

Nd:YAG oscillator amplifier system with a passive ring self-pumped phase-conjugate mirror

A ring self-pumped phase-conjugate mirror with rhodium-doped barium titanate is used to correct aberrations in a laser-diode-pumped zigzag slab Nd:YAG oscillator-amplifier system. A diffraction-limited output of 360 mJ is achieved in a 36-ns pulse duration at a repetition rate of 100 Hz.     

High-beam-quality, 5.4 J, 5 Hz diode-pumped Nd:YAG active mirror laser amplifier

A high-beam-quality diode-pumped neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet(Nd:YAG) active mirror laser amplifier was demonstrated. The size of the Nd:YAG crystal was 48 mm × 42 mm × 11 mm with 0.6 at.% Nd doped. When the pump energy was 26.8 J and the input energy was 0.3 J, the output pulse energy reached 5.4 J, and the pulse width of 11.3 ns at a 5 Hz repetition rate was obtained for the two gain modules in three-pass amplification, with corresponding optical-to-optical efficiency of 21.2%. The beam quality was measured as M_x~2=2.48 and M_~2y=2.43 in horizontal and vertical directions, respectively.     

Study on 660-nm quasi-continuous-wave intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser

A quasi-continuous-wave intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser which operates at 660 nm is studied.By using a flat-flat laser cavity, 2 Kr-lamps, KTP crystal and an acousto-optically Q-switch, 2-W outputpower at 660 nm is obtained. The relationship between laser cavity length and output power is analyzed.     

高重复频率水冷Nd:YAG激活镜放大器的温度特性

为解决高重复频率大能量激光放大器的热管理问题,采用数值模拟与实验分析的方法,对背面水冷Nd:YAG激活镜放大器的流体散热进行了研究.基于低雷诺数k-e湍流模型,建立了流-固共轭传热多物理场耦合分析模型,对比分析了近壁面处理方法对流体流动、对流扩散和热传导过程及温度分布的影响,分析研究了不同冷却液流量和泵浦参数对流场特性...     

Direct-liquid-cooled Nd:YAG thin disk laser oscillator

A Nd:YAG thin disk laser oscillator convection-cooled directly by the liquid is demonstrated. Lasing performance at different flow patterns and different flow rates is studied in detail. Micro-scale eddies that appear at the disk edge can induce decrease of the output power and the degradation of beam quality. 17.1 W of output power is realized at the maximum pump power of 54.8 W, corresponding to the optical–optical efficiency of 31.2 %, and the slope efficiency of 37.5 %.     

Nd:YAG lasers at 1064 nm with 1-Hz linewidth

Two Nd:YAG lasers are tightly frequency-stabilized to separately located, vertically mounted ultrastable cavities, which are connected by single-mode optical fibers employing fiber phase noise cancellation. The optical heterodyne beat between two independent lasers shows that the linewidth of each laser reaches 1 Hz and the frequency drift is less than 0.3 Hz/s.     

Efficient acousto-optically Q-switched intracavity Nd:YAG/KTiOAsO4 optical parametric oscillator

An efficient singly resonant intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO) is demonstrated based on a type II non-critically phase-matched KTiOAsO₄ (KTA) crystal. A diode-end-pumped acousto-optically (AO) Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is used as the pumping source. Under a LD power of 7.43 W and a pulse repetition rate of 15 kHz, we obtain a signal power of 0.93 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.5%. This is the highest efficiency reported for the intracavity KTA OPOs. Theoretical analysis on the power characteristics of the OPO is performed. It is proved from the theoretical results that the reflectivity of 63% at the signal wavelength (1535 nm) is a good selection for high average power and high conversion efficiency. PACS  42.65.Yj; 42.60.Gd; 42.55.Xi     

带受激布里渊散射相位共轭镜的Nd:YAG激光器

应用液体中受激布里渊散射相位共轭镜,与普通反射镜一起构成位相共轭谐振腔,得到了能量在10OmJ以上,脉宽在15ns以下的激光脉冲输出。实验测量了各种腔结构参数对输出能量的影响,并用相位板对该腔干扰,测量了其补偿特性。     

High power composite Nd:YAG/YAG zigzag dual-slab laser oscillator

We report a high power zigzag slab laser oscillator employing two composite Nd:YAG/YAG slab in the cavity. The CW laser output with the power of 401 W was achieved from the oscillator with the optical-optical efficiency of 32.6%. The beam quality is estimated as M _x ² ≈ 10, M _y ² ∼ 50 in the slab width and thickness direction, respectively.     

A 200 mJ unstable resonator Nd:YAG oscillator

We have designed and operated a positive branch 6.3 mm diameter rod Nd:YAG unstable resonator oscillator with a 12 nsec, 200 mJ Q-switched output at 10 Hz repetition rate. When followed by a single 9 mm diameter Nd:YAG amplifier output energies up to 750 mJ were obtained with a divergence less than 0.5 mrad.     

Laser-diode-pumped zigzag slab Nd:YAG master oscillator power amplifier

A high-repetition rate master oscillator power amplifier pumped with laser diodes (LDs) is reported. An injection seeding single-frequency electro-optical Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is used as an oscillator, and a conductively cooled Nd:YAG zigzag slab with a bounce-pumped architecture is utilized as a power amplifier. Pulse energies of over 800 mJ at 1 064 nm and 400 mJ at 532 nm, corresponding to average powers of 200 and 100 W, respectively, are achieved with a 12.6-ns pulse width at 250 Hz. Output frequency fluctuations and single-frequency operation are further monitored. Experimental results reveal that the proposed system, which features a single-pass amplified configuration, is a promising design for space-based applications.     

Intracavity KTiOAsO4 optical parametric oscillator pumped by an actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

A KTiOAsO₄ (KTA) intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO) is achieved within a diode end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. With a 25-mm-long X-cut KTA crystal, efficient parametric conversions to signal (1535 nm) and idler (3467 nm) waves are realized. At an incident diode power of 14.9 W, the highest output power of 1.83 W including 1.37 W of signal and 0.46 W of idler radiations are obtained at a repetition rate of 40 kHz, corresponding to a total optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.3%. Rate equations model are used to simulate this system, and the theoretical results agree with the experimental ones.     

Pulse-series 1.57 μm optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with a variable reflectivity mirror

A method of generating 1.57 μm pulse-series eye-safe laser based on optical parametric oscillator (OPO) was developed. The 1.57 μm pulse-series OPO was pumped by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with a variable reflectivity unstable resonator. Every pulse-series includes three micro-pulses, and the pulse repetition rates, pulse numbers and pulse intervals were adjustable. The maximum output energy of the 3-micro-pulse-series was 274 mJ. The optical-optical efficiency of the OPO was about 40%.     

High-peak-power diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser with a Brillouin phase-conjugation--pulse-compression mirror

We demonstrate stimulated Brillouin scattering compression of diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser pulses with a 3-ns duration into 350-ps pulses at a pulse-repetition rate of 100 Hz for what is believed to be the first time. The output pulse energy was 6.5 mJ, with a beam-quality factor M(2) of 1.15, and after final amplification the energy reached 36 mJ, with M(2) of 2.5.     

Diode-pumped 250-W zigzag slab Nd:YAG oscillator amplifier system

A laser-diode-pumped zigzag slab Nd:YAG master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system featuring high pulse energy and high average power was developed for pumping of an ultrashort-pulse laser system. The MOPA system consists of an oscillator, a preamplifier, two postamplifiers, and image-relay telescopes. The postamplifiers have an angle-multiplexed ring-type double-pass configuration. A pulse energy of 1.26 J and an average power of 251 W were obtained at a repetition rate of 200 Hz. The frequency-doubled power when a LiB(3)O(5) crystal was used was 105 W at a repetition rate of 170 Hz. The intensity profiles of the fundamental and the second harmonic are nearly top-hat shaped and are suitable for pumping.     

An eye-safe KTiAsO4 intracavity optical parametric oscillator driven by a diode pumped composite Nd:YAG/Cr4+:YAG laser

A mini eye-safe KTiAsO₄ intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO) employing the shared cavity configuration and driven by a diode-end-pumped composite Nd:YAG/Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser is demonstrated in this paper. Under an incident laser diode power of 11 W, a maximum average output power of 424 mW at 1534 nm was obtained. The corresponding signal pulse width and repetition rate were 1.2 ns and 16.7 kHz, respectively. The fluctuation of the average signal output power over long-term operation was found to be ±3.0%. A theoretical model for the compact IOPO was also presented in this paper.     

Self-starting Nd:YAG holographic laser oscillator with a thermal grating

Self-starting operation of a self-conjugating loop oscillator is achieved, for the first time to our knowledge, by use of an optically induced thermal hologram in a nonsaturable absorbing medium. Self-Q-switched single-longitudinal-mode pulses of 12-ns duration are obtained in a near-diffraction-limited spatial mode and with an output energy of >250 mJ . Good correction of intracavity phase distortions is obtained, as well as good extraction efficiency in the laser mode volume. It is shown that one has to set an additional nonreciprocal phase-shift element in the loop to ensure resonant operation of the system.     

Comparative studies of semiconductor saturable absorber mirror mode-locking dynamics in pulsed diode-end-pumped picosecond Nd:GdVO4 and Nd:YAG lasers

Ultrashort pulses were generated in passively mode-locked Nd:YAG and Nd:GdVO4 lasers pumped by a pulsed laser diode with 10-Hz repetition rate. Stable mode-locked pulse trains were produced with the pulse width of 10 ps. The evolution of the mode-locked pulse was observed in the experiment and was discussed in detail. Comparing the pulse evolutions of Nd:YAG and Nd:GdVO4 lasers, we found that the buildup time of the steady-state mode-locking with semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) was relevant to the upper-state lifetime and the emission cross-section of the gain medium.