High average power, diffraction-limited picosecond output from a sapphire face-cooled Nd:YVO_4 slab amplifier

Abstract

We demonstrated high average power, diffraction-limited (M2∼1.1) picosecond output from a sapphire face-cooled Nd:YVO4 slab amplifier at 1064 nm in a multi-pass geometry. Average output power of 44.5 W was achieved at an optical efficiency of 56%. A second harmonic power of 24.1 W was also obtained at an input fundamental power of 36 W, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 67%.