Abstract

We describe 20-kW operation of a Q-switched Nd:YLF laser end pumped by a 5-mJ, 25-W quasi-cw diode-laser bar. A fiber coupler was used to adapt the 1-cm-wide active area of the diode-laser bar to the circular shape of the TEM₀₀ mode. The maximum 1047-nm TEM₀₀ output energy was 0.5 mJ in a 22-nsec Q-switched pulse. This corresponds to a peak power in excess of 20 kW and was obtained at an optical slope efficiency of 13%.

© 1990 Optical Society of America

High-power Nd:YLF laser end pumped by a diode-laser bar

Th. Graf and J. E. Balmer
Opt. Lett. 18(16) 1317-1319 (1993)

High-power diode-bar end-pumped Nd:YLF laser at 1.053??µm

W. A. Clarkson, P. J. Hardman, and D. C. Hanna
Opt. Lett. 23(17) 1363-1365 (1998)

Single-frequency, end-pumped Nd:YLF laser excited by a 12-mJ diode-laser array

C. F. Rae, J. A. C. Terry, B. D. Sinclair, M. H. Dunn, and W. Sibbett
Opt. Lett. 17(23) 1673-1675 (1992)

Scalable diode-end-pumping technology applied to a 100-MJ Q-switched Nd³⁺:YLF laser oscillator

R. Beach, P. Reichert, W. Benett, B. Freitas, S. Mitchell, A. Velsko, J. Davin, and R. Solarz
Opt. Lett. 18(16) 1326-1328 (1993)

Passive Q switching of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser with a saturable absorber

Jeffrey A. Morris and Clifford R. Pollock
Opt. Lett. 15(8) 440-442 (1990)