Active tracker laser (ATLAS)

Author

Pierre, Randall J St ; Holleman, Gerald W. ; Valley, Marcy ; Injeyan, Hagop ; Berg, Jacqueline G. ; Harpole, George M. ; Hilyard, Rodger C. ; Mitchell, Marc ; Weber, Mark E. ; Zamel, James ; Engler, Thomas ; Hall, Daniel ; Tinti, Robert ; Machan, Jason

Author_Institution

Space & Electron. Group, TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA, USA

Volume

3

Issue

1

fYear

1997

fDate

2/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

64

Lastpage

70

Abstract

A high brightness diode-pumped, Nd-YAG solid state laser has been designed, fabricated, and tested. This phase conjugated master oscillator/power amplifier (MOPA) device produces 20-ns Q-switched pulses at 2500 Hz at an average power of 690 W and a beam quality of 1.1×DL when the pump diodes are operated at 27.5% duty cycle. With an external KTP doubler, this device has produced 175 W of green average power at a beam quality of 1.5 × DL and a conversion efficiency of 45% over continuous operating times as long as one hour. This 1.06 μm result is believed to be the highest average power brightness achieved, and the 532-nm performance is both the highest average green power and the highest average brightness ever reported

Keywords

brightness; high-speed optical techniques; laser beam applications; laser transitions; neodymium; optical design techniques; optical fabrication; optical harmonic generation; optical pumping; optical testing; optical tracking; solid lasers; 1.06 mum; 175 W; 20 ns; 45 percent; 532 nm; 690 W; MOPA device; YAG:Nd; YAl5O12:Nd; active tracker laser; average power; beam quality; continuous operating times; conversion efficiency; duty cycle; external KTP doubler; green average power; high brightness diode-pumped Nd-YAG solid state laser; highest average power brightness; ns Q-switched pulses; optical design; optical fabrication; optical testing; phase conjugated master oscillator/power amplifier; pump diodes; Brightness; Diodes; Laser excitation; Optical design; Oscillators; Power amplifiers; Pulse amplifiers; Pump lasers; Solid lasers; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1077-260X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/2944.585816

Filename

585816