Flashlamp-pumped Laser System Research Articles

50 Watt average output power with 1.2*DL beam quality from a single rod Nd:YALO laser with phase-conjugating SBS mirror

A phase conjugating mirror based on the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS mirror) is used as one of the mirrors of a laser resonator. The SBS mirror realizes a Q switch and an enhancement of the brightness of a Nd:YALO laser oscillator. By a highly selective set of apertures the desired beam path of the transverse fundamental mode was fixed. This Q-switch technique using the SBS mirror is very efficient. It enables us to operate the Q-switched laser with the same or higher efficiency as a free running laser. The maximum average output power of this flashlamp pumped laser system was 50 W and is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest value reported for a single rod flashlamp pumped solid state laser working in the TEM 00 mode.

Diode Laser—Pumped Solid-State Lasers

Diode laser-pumped solid-state lasers are efficient, compact, all solid-state sources of coherent optical radiation. Major advances in solid-state laser technology have historically been preceded by advances in pumping technology. The helical flash lamps used to pump early ruby lasers were superseded by the linear flash lamp and arc lamp now used to pump neodymium-doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet lasers. The latest advance in pumping technology is the diode laser. Diode laser-pumped neodymium lasers have operated at greater than 10 percent electrical to optical efficiency in a single spatial mode and with linewidths of less than 10 kilohertz. The high spectral power brightness of these lasers has allowed frequency extension by harmonic generation in nonlinear crystals, which has led to green and blue sources of coherent radiation. Diode laser pumping has also been used with ions other than neodymium to produce wavelengths from 946 to 2010 nanometers. In addition, Q-switched operation with kilowatt peak powers and mode-locked operation with 10-picosecond pulse widths have been demonstrated. Progress in diode lasers and diode laser arrays promises all solid-state lasers in which the flash lamp is replaced by diode lasers for average power levels in excess of tens of watts and at a price that is competitive with flash lamp-pumped laser systems. Power levels exceeding 1 kilowatt appear possible within the next 5 years. Potential applications of diode laser-pumped solid-state lasers include coherent radar, global sensing from satellites, medical uses, micromachining, and miniature visible sources for digital optical storage.

Subpicosecond generation via hybrid mode-locking of styryl 9 in the near infra-red

By applying a hybrid mode locking technique, pulses as short as 0.55 ps, tunable in the region of 840 nm have been obtained from a cw styryl 9 dye laser. The dye IR-140 which was used as the saturable absorber was initially shown to give complete modulation with styryl 9 in a simple flashlamp-pumped laser system.

Involute-related Coupling Reflectors for Flash-lamp Pumped Laser Systems

A novel method of designing coupling reflectors for flash-lamp pumped laser systems is presented. The aim is to improve efficiency and beam quality. The performance of an actual dye laser incorporating such a reflector is compared with one which has a conventional elliptical reflector. The reasons why the novel mirror fails to show an improvement are given, along with suggestions for realizing the theoretically predicted improvements in practice.

Coaxial Marx-Bank Driver and Flashlamp for Optical Excitation of Organic Dye Lasers

A flashlamp pumped laser system that utilizes a coaxial Marx-Bank driver circuit is described. The property of the Marx-Bank circuit, which is to charge storage capacitors in parallel but discharge them in series connection, affords the practical advantage that high applied voltages and flashlamp input energies may be attained with a relatively low dc charging voltage. The use of a coaxial flashlamp and circuit configuration minimizes total inductance so that short duration, high energy pulses efficient for dye laser excitation are obtained.