A straightforward method is presented for generating a stigmatic spherical thermal lens in laser-diode-pumped, Brewster-cut solid-state gain media by shaping the aspect ratio of the elliptical pumped region. Demonstration of this laser head design with Nd:GdVO₄ as the gain medium yields a stable, efficient, high-power (>20W) diode-pumped laser at 1063nm. Analysis of the spatial mode characteristics of a 67cm-long symmetric resonator both confirms the radially symmetric nature of the pump-induced thermal lens and indicates that laser resonators incorporating this head design can readily generate a high spatial beam quality (M²<2).

© 2004 Optical Society of America

1. See, for example, R. Scheps, Introduction to laser diode-pumped solid state lasers, Tutorial Texts in Optical Engineering, vol. TT53 (International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE), 2002).
2. W. Koechner, Solid-State Laser Engineering, 4th edition (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1996).
3. H. Zhang, J. Liu, J. Wang, C. Wang, L. Zhu, Z. Shao, X. Meng, X. Hu, M. Jiang, and Y.T. Chow, �??Characterization of the laser crystal Nd:GdVO4,�?? J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 19, 18-27 (2002). [CrossRef]
4. Y.F. Chen, T.M. Huang, C.C. Liao, Y.P. Lan, and S.C. Wang, �??Efficient high-power diode-end-pumped TEM00 Nd:YVO4 laser�?? IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 11, 1241-1243 (1999). [CrossRef]
5. J. Liu, Z. Shao, H. Zhang, X. Meng, L. Zhu, and M. Jiang, �??Diode-laser-array end-pumped 14.3W CW Nd:GdVO4 solid-state laser at 1.06µm,�?? Appl. Phys. B 69, 241-243 (1999). [CrossRef]
6. Y.F. Chen, Y.P. Lan, and S.C. Wang, �??High-power diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser: thermally induced fracture versus pump-wavelength sensitivity,�?? Appl. Phys. B 71, 827-830 (2000). [CrossRef]
7. A. Giesen, H. Hügel, A. Voss, K. Wittig, U. Brauch, and H. Opower, �??Scalable concept for diode-pumped high-power solid-state-lasers,�?? Appl. Phys. B 58, 365-372 (1994). [CrossRef]
8. B.A. Thompson, A. Minassian, and M.J. Damzen, �??Operation of a 33-W, continuous-wave, self-adaptive, solid-state laser oscillator,�?? J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 20, 857-862 (2003). [CrossRef]
9. J.E. Bernard and A.J. Alcock, �??High-efficiency diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 slab laser,�?? Opt. Lett. 18, 968-970 (1993). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
10. C. Stewen, K. Contag, M. Larionov, A. Giesen, and H. Hügel, �??A 1-kW CW thin disc laser,�?? IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum. Electron. 6, 650-657 (2000). [CrossRef]
11. Product information on Yb:YAG thin disk laser (Electronik Laser Systems GmbH, 2004), <a href= "http://www.versadisk.com/Products/vdisk.html"> http://www.versadisk.com/Products/vdisk.html</a>.
12. S. Knoke, G. Hollemann, M. Nickel, and H. Voelckel, �??Frequency doubled Nd:YVO4 thin disk laser with 30% diode-to-green efficiency,�?? paper CThC2 in Technical Digest of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics 2001 (Baltimore, MD), (Optical Society of America, Washington DC, 2001) p.388-389.
13. H.W. Kogelnik, E.P. Ippen, A. Dienes, and C.V. Shank, �??Astigmatically compensated cavities for CW dye lasers,�?? IEEE J. Quantum. Electron. QE-8, 373-379 (1972). [CrossRef]
14. M. Mehendale, T.R. Nelson, F.G. Omenetto, and W.A. Schroeder, �??Thermal effects in laser pumped Kerr-lens modelocked Ti:sapphire lasers,�?? Opt. Commun. 136, 150-159 (1997). [CrossRef]
15. A.E. Siegman, Lasers (University Science Books, Sausalito, CA, 1986).
16. L. Xu, G. Tempea, A. Poppe, M. Lenzner, Ch. Spielmann, F. Krausz, A. Stingl, and K. Ferencz, �??High-power sub-10-fs Ti:sapphire oscillators,�?? Appl. Phys. B 65, 151-159 (1997). [CrossRef]
17. R. Paschotta, J. Aus der Au, G.J. Spühler, F. Morier-Genoud, R. Hövel, M. Moser, S. Erhard, M. Karszewski, A. Giesen, and U. Keller, �??Diode-pumped passively mode-locked lasers with high average power,�?? Appl. Phys. B 70, S25-S31 (2000). [CrossRef]
18. Artic Silver 5, High-density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound (Artic Silver, 2004), <a href= "http://www.articsilver.com/as5.htm"> http://www.articsilver.com/as5.htm</a>.
19. T. Jensen, V.G. Ostroumov, J.-P. Meyn, G. Huber, A.I. Zagumennyi, I.A. Shcherbakov, �??Spectroscopic characterization and laser performance of diode-laser-pumped Nd:GdVO4,�?? Appl. Phys. B 58, 373-379 (1994). [CrossRef]
20. Q. Fu, F. Seier, S.K. Gayen, and R.R. Alfano,�??High-average-power kilohertz-repetition-rate sub-100-fs Ti:sapphire amplifier system,�?? Opt. Lett. 22, 712-714 (1997). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
21. P.A. Studenikin, A.I. Zagumennyi, Yu.D. Zavaratsev, P.A. Popov, and I.A. Shcherbakov, �??GdVO4 as a new medium for solid-state lasers: some optical and thermal properties of crystals doped with Nd3+, Tm3+, and Er3+ ions,�?? Quantum Electron. 25, 1162-1165 (1995). [CrossRef]
22. P.K. Mukhopadhyay, A. Nautiyal, P.K. Gupta, K. Ranganathan, J. George, S.K. Sharma, and T.P.S. Nathan, �??Experimental determination of the thermo-optic coefficient (dn/dT) and the effective stimulated emission cross-section (�?e) of an a-axis cut 1.-at. % doped Nd:GdVO4 crystal at 1.06µm wavelength,�?? Appl. Phys. B 77, 81-87 (2003). [CrossRef]
23. 808nm 40W CW laser diode array (Northrup Grumman Space Technologies, Cutting Edge Optronics, 2004), <a href= "http://www.imclaser.com/pdf/808-CS-40W-single.pdf"> http://www.imclaser.com/pdf/808-CS-40W-single.pdf</a>.
24. N. Hodgson and H. Weber, Optical Resonators (Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg, 1997).
25. W.A. Clarkson, �??Thermal effects and their mitigation in end-pumped solid-state lasers,�?? J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 34, 2381-2395 (2001). [CrossRef]

Appl. Phys. B

• J. Liu, Z. Shao, H. Zhang, X. Meng, L. Zhu, and M. Jiang, �??Diode-laser-array end-pumped 14.3W CW Nd:GdVO4 solid-state laser at 1.06µm,�?? Appl. Phys. B 69, 241-243 (1999). [CrossRef]
• Y.F. Chen, Y.P. Lan, and S.C. Wang, �??High-power diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser: thermally induced fracture versus pump-wavelength sensitivity,�?? Appl. Phys. B 71, 827-830 (2000). [CrossRef]
• A. Giesen, H. Hügel, A. Voss, K. Wittig, U. Brauch, and H. Opower, �??Scalable concept for diode-pumped high-power solid-state-lasers,�?? Appl. Phys. B 58, 365-372 (1994). [CrossRef]
• L. Xu, G. Tempea, A. Poppe, M. Lenzner, Ch. Spielmann, F. Krausz, A. Stingl, and K. Ferencz, �??High-power sub-10-fs Ti:sapphire oscillators,�?? Appl. Phys. B 65, 151-159 (1997). [CrossRef]
• R. Paschotta, J. Aus der Au, G.J. Spühler, F. Morier-Genoud, R. Hövel, M. Moser, S. Erhard, M. Karszewski, A. Giesen, and U. Keller, �??Diode-pumped passively mode-locked lasers with high average power,�?? Appl. Phys. B 70, S25-S31 (2000). [CrossRef]
• T. Jensen, V.G. Ostroumov, J.-P. Meyn, G. Huber, A.I. Zagumennyi, I.A. Shcherbakov, �??Spectroscopic characterization and laser performance of diode-laser-pumped Nd:GdVO4,�?? Appl. Phys. B 58, 373-379 (1994). [CrossRef]
• P.K. Mukhopadhyay, A. Nautiyal, P.K. Gupta, K. Ranganathan, J. George, S.K. Sharma, and T.P.S. Nathan, �??Experimental determination of the thermo-optic coefficient (dn/dT) and the effective stimulated emission cross-section (�?e) of an a-axis cut 1.-at. % doped Nd:GdVO4 crystal at 1.06µm wavelength,�?? Appl. Phys. B 77, 81-87 (2003). [CrossRef]

CLEO 2001

• S. Knoke, G. Hollemann, M. Nickel, and H. Voelckel, �??Frequency doubled Nd:YVO4 thin disk laser with 30% diode-to-green efficiency,�?? paper CThC2 in Technical Digest of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics 2001 (Baltimore, MD), (Optical Society of America, Washington DC, 2001) p.388-389.

IEEE J. Quantum. Electron.

• H.W. Kogelnik, E.P. Ippen, A. Dienes, and C.V. Shank, �??Astigmatically compensated cavities for CW dye lasers,�?? IEEE J. Quantum. Electron. QE-8, 373-379 (1972). [CrossRef]

IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum. Electron.

• C. Stewen, K. Contag, M. Larionov, A. Giesen, and H. Hügel, �??A 1-kW CW thin disc laser,�?? IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum. Electron. 6, 650-657 (2000). [CrossRef]

IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett.

• Y.F. Chen, T.M. Huang, C.C. Liao, Y.P. Lan, and S.C. Wang, �??Efficient high-power diode-end-pumped TEM00 Nd:YVO4 laser�?? IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 11, 1241-1243 (1999). [CrossRef]

J. Opt. Soc. Am. B

• H. Zhang, J. Liu, J. Wang, C. Wang, L. Zhu, Z. Shao, X. Meng, X. Hu, M. Jiang, and Y.T. Chow, �??Characterization of the laser crystal Nd:GdVO4,�?? J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 19, 18-27 (2002). [CrossRef]
• B.A. Thompson, A. Minassian, and M.J. Damzen, �??Operation of a 33-W, continuous-wave, self-adaptive, solid-state laser oscillator,�?? J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 20, 857-862 (2003). [CrossRef]

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

• W.A. Clarkson, �??Thermal effects and their mitigation in end-pumped solid-state lasers,�?? J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 34, 2381-2395 (2001). [CrossRef]

Opt. Commun.

• M. Mehendale, T.R. Nelson, F.G. Omenetto, and W.A. Schroeder, �??Thermal effects in laser pumped Kerr-lens modelocked Ti:sapphire lasers,�?? Opt. Commun. 136, 150-159 (1997). [CrossRef]

Opt. Lett.

• J.E. Bernard and A.J. Alcock, �??High-efficiency diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 slab laser,�?? Opt. Lett. 18, 968-970 (1993). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• Q. Fu, F. Seier, S.K. Gayen, and R.R. Alfano,�??High-average-power kilohertz-repetition-rate sub-100-fs Ti:sapphire amplifier system,�?? Opt. Lett. 22, 712-714 (1997). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Quantum Electron.

• P.A. Studenikin, A.I. Zagumennyi, Yu.D. Zavaratsev, P.A. Popov, and I.A. Shcherbakov, �??GdVO4 as a new medium for solid-state lasers: some optical and thermal properties of crystals doped with Nd3+, Tm3+, and Er3+ ions,�?? Quantum Electron. 25, 1162-1165 (1995). [CrossRef]

Tutorial Texts in Optical Engineering

• See, for example, R. Scheps, Introduction to laser diode-pumped solid state lasers, Tutorial Texts in Optical Engineering, vol. TT53 (International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE), 2002).

Other

• W. Koechner, Solid-State Laser Engineering, 4th edition (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1996).
• A.E. Siegman, Lasers (University Science Books, Sausalito, CA, 1986).
• Product information on Yb:YAG thin disk laser (Electronik Laser Systems GmbH, 2004), <a href= "http://www.versadisk.com/Products/vdisk.html"> http://www.versadisk.com/Products/vdisk.html</a>.
• Artic Silver 5, High-density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound (Artic Silver, 2004), <a href= "http://www.articsilver.com/as5.htm"> http://www.articsilver.com/as5.htm</a>.
• 808nm 40W CW laser diode array (Northrup Grumman Space Technologies, Cutting Edge Optronics, 2004), <a href= "http://www.imclaser.com/pdf/808-CS-40W-single.pdf"> http://www.imclaser.com/pdf/808-CS-40W-single.pdf</a>.
• N. Hodgson and H. Weber, Optical Resonators (Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg, 1997).

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