Resonant refractive index grating as a self-adaptive mirror for high-average-power Nd:YAG laser

Summary form only given.Laser oscillators with a cavity formed by population gratings induced in laser crystals by generating beams themselves are intensively investigated for the creation of high average power lasers with near-diffraction limited beam. The key advantage of such lasers is the self-adaptive properties of the cavity formed by nonlinear dynamic mirrors. We present the results of experimental and numerical investigations of the grating origin and dynamics of the self-starting high-average-power Nd:YAG laser. It is shown that the generation is caused by the self-consistent formation of the refractive-index gratings that accompany the population gratings. The single transverse mode operation of a self-starting laser with the output average power of as large as 100 W is demonstrated.