Title :
Power scaling of a flashlamp-pumped Cr:LiSAF thin-slab zig-zag laser
Author :
Klimek, Daniel E. ; Mandl, Alexander
Author_Institution :
Textron Syst. Corp., Wilmington, MA, USA
fDate :
12/1/2002 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
We report on the power scaling of a flashlamp-pumped Cr:LiSrAlF6 thin-slab zig-zag laser operating at repetition rates up to 5 Hz. Average output power of 44 W with pulse energies of 8.8 J was achieved operating with a stable cavity. Excellent medium control was also obtained during this operation. Also demonstrated at 5 Hz was operation at energies ∼ 0.5 J in Q-switched mode with unstable optics and bandwidth control, beam quality < 1.5 XDL, bandwidth ∼ 1 GHz, and root-mean-square beam jitter of less than half of a diffraction limited far-field spot radius.
Keywords :
Q-switching; aluminium compounds; chromium; flash lamps; jitter; laser modes; laser stability; lithium compounds; optical pumping; solid lasers; strontium compounds; 0.5 J; 1 GHz; 44 W; 8.8 J; LiSrAlF6:Cr; Q-switched mode; average output power; bandwidth control; beam quality; diffraction limited far-field spot radius; flashlamp-pumped Cr:LiSAF thin-slab zig-zag laser; flashlamp-pumped Cr:LiSrAlF6 thin-slab zig-zag laser; medium control; power scaling; repetition rates; root-mean-square beam jitter; unstable optics; Bandwidth; Laser modes; Laser radar; Laser tuning; Optical control; Optical pulses; Optical pumping; Power lasers; Solid lasers; Thermal management;
Journal_Title :
Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JQE.2002.805114
