Abstract
A new thin-slab ceramic Nd:YAG laser is presented based on a non-conventional zig-zag configuration. The slab is shaped in such a way that the beam propagates internally bouncing on the thin lateral faces (Edge zig-zag). Preliminary experiments have demonstrated a power extraction of 170 W (CW) at an optical conversion efficiency of 36%. Measurements have also been performed to assess the propagation properties, at least in the thinner transverse direction, of the beam extracted with a simple stable resonator. This laser format appears as a good competitor of the more traditional face-pumped or edge-pumped zig-zag slab laser schemes.
Highlights
High-power high-efficiency solid state lasers are always limited by the onset of deleterious effects such as thermal lensing, stress birefringence or biaxial focusing
From the early 1970s zig- zag slab designs have been suggested to reduce thermally induced effects [1]. In this design a laser beam is propagated through a slab of active material at an angle with respect to the slab axis and bounces inside the slab thanks to total internal reflections (TIRs)
Feature of the thermal lens in our zig-zag slab scheme. These preliminary results allow us to conclude that the ”edge zig-zagged” slab configuration is a valuable alternative for high power Diode Pumped Solid State Laser (DPSSL) designs
Summary
High-power high-efficiency solid state lasers are always limited by the onset of deleterious effects such as thermal lensing, stress birefringence or biaxial focusing. Byer and his group [15]-[16] proposed a different solution called edge-pumping (Fig. 1 scheme B) in which the rectangular slab is still uniformly cooled on the large TIR faces, but the pump power is introduced from the narrow non-TIR faces along the slab width, transverse to the direction of the optical propagation and to the thermal gradient. This geometry produces relevant power extraction efficiencies but results less effective than the face pumped scheme in averaging inhomogeneities. To distinguish it from the traditional face-pumped (A in Fig. 1) and edge-pumped (B in Fig. 1) schemes, we will call this one, the ”Edge zig-zagged” scheme
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