550-W diode-pumped Nd:YAG disk laser

When a thin laser crystal disk is used with a nearly flat-top pump profile, the heat flux can be considered to be one-dimensional. This results in a homogeneous temperature and stress profile within the laser medium leading to reduction of thermal effects. A nearly flat-top pump profile is achieved with a two-pass cylindrical-lens coupling system. An average output power of 550 W is obtained by an average pumping     

二极管泵浦Nd:YAG薄片激光器技术研究

固体激光器向高平均功率发展的最大障碍是激光介质的热效应.采用薄片激光介质可以实现热流近一维分布,因而是解决固体激光器热效应的有效手段之一,但许多因素都会影响薄片的一维热分布.对薄片热分布的主要影响因素进行的计算分析表明,在均匀泵浦条件下,泵浦区径向温度的均匀性不仅和泵浦区面积与薄片厚度之比有关,而且和冷却区与泵浦区的相关尺寸有关.采用均匀耦合技术并合理设计薄片的散热冷却结构以实现热流近一维分布,用平均功率336 W的激光二极管阵列泵浦一块NdYAG薄片,获得了平均功率超过120 W的准连续激光输出.     

100W二极管泵浦Nd:YAG薄片激光器

 报道了一台高效率二极管泵浦Nd:YAG薄片激光器，采用高效均匀泵浦耦合技术，在峰值功率1.008kW，占空比25％, 电-光效率大于45%的二极管激光阵列泵浦下，用一块1mm厚的Nd:YAG薄片激光介质，获得了峰值功率404W，平均功率101W的准连续激光输出，光-光效率达到40%，电-光效率超过18%。     

36-W diode-pumped continuous-wave 1319-nm Nd:YAG ceramic laser

Continuous-wave output at 1319 nm was obtained from a laser-diode-pumped 1% ceramic Nd:YAG laser. As much as 36.3-W output was obtained under pump power of 290 W, with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.5%.     

208-W TEM00 operation of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser

208-W average-power TEM(00) -mode operation from a diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser was demonstrated. The side-pumping method of generating a high-gain aberration-free rod, the bifocusing-compensation technique with two identically pumped rods, and a suitable choice of beam spot size were employed in the design of this laser. At the maximum pump power of 1.1 kW the fundamental transverse-mode operation (M(2)<1.1) was characterized by 7.6% electrical efficiency. The extraction efficiency was almost 60% of full multimode operation. Stable operation was obtained within a pump-power range of 15% of the maximum pump power.     

120-W continuous-wave diode-pumped Tm:YAG laser

We present a 120-W cw diode-pumped Tm:YAG laser. The Tm:YAG rod is side pumped by three diode arrays whose radiation is coupled through compound parabolic concentrators. The maximum optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of the 2.02-mum laser output is 25.2%, with a slope efficiency of 31.2%.     

16.2-W average power from a diode-pumped femtosecond Yb:YAG thin disk laser

We demonstrate a power-scalable concept for high-power all-solid-state femtosecond lasers, based on passive mode locking of Yb:YAG thin disk lasers with semiconductor saturable-absorber mirrors. We obtained 16.2 W of average output power in pulses with 730-fs duration, 0.47-muJ pulse energy, and 560-kW peak power. This is to our knowledge the highest average power reported for a laser oscillator in the subpicosecond regime. Single-pass frequency doubling through a 5-mm-long lithium triborate crystal (LBO) yields 8-W average output power of 515-nm radiation.     

Rotating-disk diode-pumped continuous-wave Nd:YAG laser

Continuous-Wave (CW) diode-laser-pumped experiments using rotating Nd: YAG disk(s) have been performed in the input-power range of 1–6 W and rotation-speed range of 0–25 Hz. With a single Nd: YAG disk in the laser cavity, about 1.56 W of output power at 1.06 µm due to the Nd³⁺ (⁴ F _3/2–⁴ I _11/2) transition at an absorbed input power of 4.2 W has been observed, leading to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of over 37% and slope efficiency of 52% using 7.5% transmission output coupler. The laser output power has been observed to decrease by either increasing the number of Nd:YAG disks in the cavity or increasing the rotation speed of the disk(s).     

2-W Ho:YAG laser intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YAG laser

Efficient room-temperature operation of a Ho:YAG laser, intracavity pumped by a diode-bar-pumped Tm:YAG laser, is reported. At rod mount temperatures of 10 degrees C, for both the Tm:YAG and the Ho:YAG rods, we obtained 2.1 W of output at 2.097mum from the Ho:YAG laser for 9.2 W of diode power incident upon the Tm:YAG rod.     

Single-mode high-peak-power passively Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser

We have demonstrated an efficient, compact, passively Q-switched single-mode diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser that uses Cr(4+):YAG as a saturable absorber. Linear- and ring-cavity configurations were demonstrated. Pulse energies and widths were, respectively, 1.5mJ and 3.9ns for the linear cavity and 2.1mJ and 12ns for the ring cavity.     

Longitudinally diode-pumped Nd:YAG double-clad planar waveguide laser

We report the demonstration of a near-diffraction-limited, compact, diode-end-pumped double-clad planar waveguide Nd:YAG laser. Efficient laser operation was achieved for the three dominant Nd(3+) transitions, at 1.064, 0.946, and 1.32microm , with TE polarized output powers of 1.33, 0.57, and 0.33 W for the available output couplers. The output beam from the monolithic plane-plane laser cavity had measured M(2) values of 1.0 and 1.8 perpendicular and parallel, respectively, to the plane of the waveguide.     

600-W lamp pumped CW Nd:YAG laser

A lamp pumped CW Nd:YAG laser is presented in this paper for the requirement of industrial application. The main factors, which affect output power and beam quality of high power solid-state laser module, are theoretically analyzed. Total electro-optics efficiency of lamp pumped Nd:YAG crystal as high as 4.0% is obtained, and output power is higher than 647 W with beam parameter product 22 mm·mrad.     

Elimination of chaos in a multilongitudinal-mode, diode-pumped, 6-W continuous-wave, intracavity-doubled Nd:YAG laser

We present a new stability mechanism in an intracavity-doubled Nd:YAG laser oscillating in a multi-fundamental-longitudinal mode. Self-mode-locked oscillation, in which phases of the modes give the destructive interference between the sum and doubling components, leads to the low-noise operation of the diode-pumped, >6-W cw green laser, which we previously demonstrated [Opt. Lett. 21 1912 (1996)]. This phase-locked mode of operation would reduce the nonlinear output coupling and ultimately eliminate the chaotic amplitude fluctuation from the so-called green problem. The internally reflected green light at the end mirror has a significant effect on phase locking and elimination of noise through parametric processes.     

100-W class diode-pumped Nd:YAG MOPA system with a double-stage relay-optics scheme

We describe a diode-pumped master-oscillator power-amplifier system with two-rod Nd:YAG media and double-stage relay optics scheme. At the repetition rate of 2.4 kHz it delivers an average power of 108 W with Q-switched pulses of 47 ns duration. The laser beam is characterized by an M² factor of 2.5×2.7. A model of amplification, which takes into account the temporal overlap between the beams that propagate forwards and backwards in the amplifier stage, was developed to explain the experimental results.     

Intracavity frequency-tripling of actively mode-locked diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser

We report the first diode-pumped solid-state laser operating in cw-mode-locked regime and simultaneously achieving intracavity frequency-tripling. This laser provide UV picosecond pulses (λ=355 nm) of 10 ps duration with 0.5 mW average power at 150 MHz repetition rate. A different set of adjustments gave rise to a Q-switched mode-locked regime. Trains of hundred UV pulses of 60 ps duration and 4 W peak power were produced in this latter case at 50 kHz repetition rate. Received: 12 October 1998 / Revised version: 12 December 1998 / Published online: 26 May 1999     

Reflection losses of a multidisc diode-pumped Nd: YAG laser

This paper reports on the alignment requirements of a scalable multidisc laser with respect to the internal reflection losses of the resonator. Considering the polarization state of the mode, these losses are generated due to a polarization mismatch at the disc surfaces. Measurements of the polarization of the output beam from a laser containing tilted discs were compared with computer simulations. The losses were calculated for resonators containing discs deviating slightly from the ideal orientation in a random manner, in order to predict the alignment requirements for a multidisc system. Results for variable numbers of discs and angular deviations are presented.     

Reflection losses of a multidisc diode-pumped Nd: YAG laser

This paper reports on the alignment requirements of a scalable multidisc laser with respect to the internal reflection losses of the resonator. Considering the polarization state of the mode, these losses are generated due to a polarization mismatch at the disc surfaces. Measurements of the polarization of the output beam from a laser containing tilted discs were compared with computer simulations. The losses were calculated for resonators containing discs deviating slightly from the ideal orientation in a random manner, in order to predict the alignment requirements for a multidisc system. Results for variable numbers of discs and angular deviations are presented.     

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 %.     

A 12.1-W SESAM mode-locked Yb:YAG thin disk laser

Pumped by a 940 nm fiber-coupled diode laser, a passively mode-locked Yb:YAG thin disk oscillator was demonstrated with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror(SESAM). 12.1 W mode-locked pulses were obtained with pulse duration of 698 fs at the repetition rate of 57.43 MHz. Measurement showed that the beam quality was close to the diffraction limit.     

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.