Abstract

A novel type of solid-state laser with a tubular active element made of Nd:YAG is presented. Using the tube geometry, one can achieve higher efficiency and higher output power per laser crystal than by using a rod or slab geometry. Our tube laser is pumped from the inside by four flash lamps. The slope efficiency of 9% and the total efficiency of 7.5% at as much as 400 W of output power are, to our knowledge, the highest values reported for flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG lasers. At 15 kW, 75% of the maximum available pumping power, the output power is 1000 W. Thermal lensing is five times lower than for an equivalent rod laser.

© 1991 Optical Society of America

Performance of a flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG laser with short-wavelength-cut tubes

Kiwamu Takehisa, Makoto Yano, and Kouji Kuwabara
Appl. Opt. 32(36) 7391-7393 (1993)

1.4-kW Nd:YAG slab laser with a diffusive closed-coupled pump cavity

Masaki Seguchi and Kazuki Kuba
Opt. Lett. 20(3) 300-302 (1995)

Compact 170-W continuous-wave diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser with a cusp-shaped reflector

T. Brand
Opt. Lett. 20(17) 1776-1778 (1995)

Efficient, 15-W output power, diode-end-pumped Nd:YAG laser

S. C. Tidwell, J. F. Seamans, C. E. Hamilton, C. H. Muller, and D. D. Lowenthal
Opt. Lett. 16(8) 584-586 (1991)

Yb:YAG and Nd:YAG edge-pumped slab lasers

T. S. Rutherford, W. M. Tulloch, S. Sinha, and R. L. Byer
Opt. Lett. 26(13) 986-988 (2001)