27-W average output power with 1.2*DL beam quality from a single-rod Nd:YAG laser with phase-conjugating SBS mirror

Author

Ostermeyer, Martin ; Heuer, Axel ; Menzel, Ralf

Author_Institution

Inst. fur Phys., Potsdam Univ., Germany

Volume

34

Issue

2

fYear

1998

fDate

2/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

372

Lastpage

377

Abstract

The beam quality of a single-rod Nd:YAG laser with large mode volume was improved almost up to the diffraction limit by using a phase-conjugating mirror (PCM) based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). A new resonator design was used with sulfur hexafluoride as the SBS medium. The laser is Q-switched by the nonlinear reflectivity of the PCM. The stable fundamental mode operation and high efficiency via large mode volume was guaranteed by the combination of a highly selective aperture setup and the SBS mirror. The system exhibits a temporal burst structure of up to 50 Hz and a repetition rate of 11 kHz within the burst. The single Q-switch pulse showed a width of 42 ns. The energy, width, and repetition rate of the Q-switch pulses within the burst can be adjusted by varying the parameters of the laser system

Keywords

Q-switching; laser beams; laser mirrors; laser modes; neodymium; optical phase conjugation; reflectivity; solid lasers; stimulated Brillouin scattering; 42 ns; Q-switch pulses; Q-switched; SBS; YAG:Nd; YAl5O12:Nd; average output power; beam quality; diffraction limit; high efficiency; highly selective aperture setup; large mode volume; nonlinear reflectivity; phase-conjugating SBS mirror; phase-conjugating mirror; repetition rate; resonator design; single Q-switch pulse; single-rod Nd:YAG laser; stable fundamental mode operation; stimulated Brillouin scattering; sulfur hexafluoride; temporal burst structure; Brillouin scattering; Diffraction; Laser beams; Laser modes; Mirrors; Phase change materials; Power generation; Reflectivity; Space vector pulse width modulation; Sulfur hexafluoride;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.658737

Filename

658737