Title :
100-watt average output power 1.2 diffraction limited beam from pulsed neodymium single-rod amplifier with SBS phase conjugation
Author :
Eichler, Hans J. ; Haase, Andreas ; Menzel, Ralf
Author_Institution :
Opt. Inst., Tech. Univ. Berlin, Germany
fDate :
7/1/1995 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
We describe a solid-state master oscillator-amplifier-laser (MOPA) with a minimum number of elements for the double-pass single-rod amplifier. It produces 100-W average output power of pulsed light with an almost diffraction limited beam. The Q-switched system works with an average repetition rate of about 3 kHz and the pulse width was 70 ns. As active material we used Nd:YALO (Nd:YAP) which has negligible depolarization. The strong thermal lens of the material with focal lengths of less than 15 cm at pump powers of 8 kW was compensated by a phase conjugating mirror based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). Therefore, the output power could be varied from 2 W up to 100 W without changing the transversal beam profile. The total efficiency of the amplifier including the phase conjugator is 1.25%
Keywords :
Q-switching; laser beams; laser mirrors; neodymium; optical phase conjugation; solid lasers; stimulated Brillouin scattering; yttrium compounds; 1.25 percent; 100 W; 2 to 100 W; 3 kHz; 70 ns; 8 kW; Q-switched system; SBS phase conjugation; YAlO3:Nd; average output power; average repetition rate; diffraction limited beam; double-pass single-rod amplifier; focal lengths; output power; phase conjugating mirror; phase conjugator; pulsed light; solid-state master oscillator-amplifier-laser; stimulated Brillouin scattering; thermal lens; total efficiency; transversal beam profile; Brillouin scattering; Diffraction; Lenses; Optical materials; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Pulse amplifiers; Solid state circuits; Space vector pulse width modulation; Thermal lensing;
Journal_Title :
Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of
