Nd:YAG thin-disk laser with large dynamic range unstable resonance

Abstract

In this paper, based on the self-reproduction condition of laser wavefront curvature, the influences of disk defocus on laser parameters can be calculated. The laser-pumping overlapping efficiency will decrease by 9%; the magnification will rise to 2.3, and the intra-cavity loss will be high to 30% due to a laser beam size mismatch when each disk has focal length of -100 m in a positive-branch confocal unstable resonator containing four disks with magnification of 1.8. Therefore, the optical conversion efficiency and stability will be reduced significantly. Several methods defocus compensation of are compared, it can be found that inserting variable-focus lens in resonant is useful in large dynamic range. In experiment, the defocus values are measured in different pumping power. A lens group, used for compensate components according to the single pass probe, is carefully designed. Under this compensation, the pulse energy can be maintained in 10 J from 1 Hz to 100 Hz. The output power can be improved 2.33 times compared to non-compensation condition.