300 W-average-power Nd:YAG laser with self-adaptive cavity completed by dynamic holographic gratings

Abstract

Summary form only given. Holographic gratings induced in a nonlinear active medium by generating optical beams themselves can complete the cavity of a laser oscillator. An important advantage of these lasers of a new class is the self-adaptive property of their cavity provided by a nonlinear dynamic mirror, which is a self-pumped phase-conjugate mirror. This adaptive property is very attractive for creation of high-average-power lasers with a good beam quality. The self-starting laser with cavity completed by holographic index gratings has demonstrated recently the capability of generating beams with more than a hundred-Watt average power and good M/sup 2/ parameter. In this report we present new results of the experimental and theoretical investigation of the lasers with the cavity completed by holographic gratings of the refractive index and gain and their capability to generate high average power beams with near-diffraction limited quality.