High-average-power diode-pumped Yb:YAG lasers

Raymond J. Beach; Eric C. Honea; Steven B. Sutton; Camille M. Bibeau; Jay A. Skidmore; Mark A. Emanuel; Stephen A. Payne; Petras V. Avizonis; R. S. Monroe; Dennis G. Harris

doi:10.1117/12.380891

3 April 2000 High-average-power diode-pumped Yb:YAG lasers

Raymond J. Beach, Eric C. Honea, Steven B. Sutton, Camille M. Bibeau, Jay A. Skidmore, Mark A. Emanuel, Stephen A. Payne, Petras V. Avizonis, R. S. Monroe, Dennis G. Harris

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3889, Advanced High-Power Lasers; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.380891
Event: Advanced High-Power Lasers and Applications, 1999, Osaka, Japan

Abstract

A scaleable diode end-pumping technology for high-average- power slab and rod lasers has been under development for the past several years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This technology has particular application to high average power Yb:YAG lasers that utilize a rod configured gain element. Previously, this rod configured approach has achieved average output powers in a single 5 cm long by 2 mm diameter Yb:YAG rod of 430 W cw and 280 W q-switched. High beam quality (M² equals 2.4) q-switched operation has also been demonstrated at over 180 W of average output power. More recently, using a dual rod configuration consisting of two, 5 cm long by 2 mm diameter laser rods with birefringence compensation, we have achieved 1080 W of cw output with an M² value of 13.5 at an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 27.5%². With the same dual rod laser operated in a q-switched mode, we have also demonstrated 532 W of average power with an M² less than 2.5 at 17% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency. These q-switched results were obtained at a 10 kHz repetition rate and resulted in 77 nsec pulse durations. These improved levels of operational performance have been achieved as a result of technology advancements made in several areas that will be covered in this manuscript. These enhancements to our architecture include: (1) Hollow lens ducts that enable the use of advanced cavity architectures permitting birefringence compensation and the ability to run in large aperture-filling near-diffraction-limited modes. (2) Compound laser rods with flanged-nonabsorbing-endcaps fabricated by diffusion bonding. (3) Techniques for suppressing amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and parasitics in the polished barrel rods.

Citation Download Citation

Raymond J. Beach, Eric C. Honea, Steven B. Sutton, Camille M. Bibeau, Jay A. Skidmore, Mark A. Emanuel, Stephen A. Payne, Petras V. Avizonis, R. S. Monroe, and Dennis G. Harris "High-average-power diode-pumped Yb:YAG lasers", Proc. SPIE 3889, Advanced High-Power Lasers, (3 April 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.380891

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available