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

Volume

38

Issue

12

fYear

2002

fDate

12/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1607

Lastpage

1613

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;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2002.805114

Filename

1088074