Quasi-CW diode-pumped self-starting adaptive laser with self-Q-switched output

Abstract

An investigation is made into a quasi-CW (QCW) diode-pumped holographic adaptive laser utilising an ultra high gain (approximately 10(4)) Nd:YVO(4) bounce amplifier. The laser produces pulses at 1064 nm with energy approximately 0.6 mJ, duration <3 ns and peak power approximately 200 kW, with high stability, via self-Q-switching effects due to the transient dynamics of the writing and replay of the gain hologram for each pump pulse. The system produces a near-diffraction-limited output with M(2)<1.3 and operates with a single longitudinal mode. In a further adaptive laser configuration, the output was amplified to obtain pulses of approximately 5.6 mJ energy, approximately 7 ns duration and approximately 1 MW peak power. The output spatial quality is also M(2)<1.3 with SLM operation. Up to 2.9 mJ pulse energy of frequency doubled green (532 nm) radiation is obtained, using an LBO crystal, representing approximately 61% conversion efficiency. This work shows that QCW diode-pumped self-adaptive holographic lasers can provide a useful source of high peak power, short duration pulses with excellent spatial quality and narrow linewidth spectrum.