Compact 300-J/300-GW Frequency-Doubled Neodymium Glass Laser—Part I: Limiting Power by Self-Focusing

Author

Potemkin, Anatoly K. ; Khazanov, Efim A. ; Martyanov, Mikhail A. ; Kochetkova, Mar Yana S

Author_Institution

Inst. of Appl. Phys., Russian Acad. of Sci., Nizhny Nvogorod

Volume

45

Issue

4

fYear

2009

fDate

4/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

336

Lastpage

344

Abstract

Small-scale self-focusing is the main cause of power limitation in nanosecond Nd:glass lasers. We report pioneer observation in experiment of laser beam noise amplification for B -integral (nonlinear phase) order of unity, i.e., without destruction of nonlinear medium. Analytical dependences of noise amplification coefficient on the B-integral have been obtained for one nonlinear medium as well as for two nonlinear media separated by an air gap with image relay. A simple analytical dependence has been found for an optimal distance between two nonlinear media for which the maximum allowable value of B -integral increases from 2.7 to 4.3. The maximum attainable energy in neodymium-phosphate glass lasers with rod amplifiers 10 cm in diameter is 400 J with a pulse duration of 1 ns.

Keywords

optical glass; optical self-focusing; solid lasers; B-integral order; analytical dependences; energy 400 J; frequency doubled neodymium glass laser; image relay; laser beam noise amplification; maximum attainable energy; noise amplification coefficient; pulse duration; rod amplifiers; self focusing; time 1 ns; Frequency; Glass; Image analysis; Laser beams; Laser noise; Neodymium; Phase noise; Power lasers; Pulse amplifiers; Relays; $B$-integral; Nd:glass laser; nonlinear refractive index; self-focusing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2009.2013212

Filename

4799261