Nd:YAG lasers without thermally induced lenses

Author

Graf, Th. ; Glur, H.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Appl. Phys., Bern Univ., Switzerland

fYear

2003

fDate

22-27 June 2003

Firstpage

40

Abstract

In particular, the thermal dispersion dn/dT was extrapolated to vanish (dn/dT≈0) at temperatures around 80 K and at the same time the heat conductivity is 5 times higher as compared to the value at room temperature. In the present work we verified this behavior with experimental investigations and demonstrated a substantial reduction of the thermally induced lenses that led to exceptionally wide power ranges for stable fundamental-mode laser operation in a simple end-pumped laser. The results are of particular interest for spaceborne applications where low temperatures are easily maintained.

Keywords

laser modes; neodymium; optical pumping; solid lasers; thermal conductivity; thermo-optical effects; 293 to 298 KK; 80 K; Nd:YAG laser; YAG:Nd; YAl5O12:Nd; end-pumped laser; heat conductivity; room temperature; spaceborne application; stable fundamental-mode laser operation; thermal dispersion; thermally induced lens reduction; Cooling; Laser stability; Lenses; Nitrogen; Optical materials; Power lasers; Pump lasers; Temperature; Thermal conductivity; Thermal lensing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe, 2003. CLEO/Europe. 2003 Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7734-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEOE.2003.1312102

Filename

1312102