Open AccessPower scaling of highly neodymium-doped YAG ceramic lasers with a bounce amplifier geometry
Author(s) -
Takashige Omatsu,
Y. Ojima,
A. Minassian,
M. J. Damzen
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/opex.13.007011
Subject(s) - materials science , optics , laser , neodymium , amplifier , ceramic , doping , diode , laser power scaling , diode pumped solid state laser , optoelectronics , slope efficiency , fiber laser , composite material , physics , cmos
High power operation of highly-doped ceramic Nd:YAG laser is demonstrated using a laser diode transversely-pumped bounce geometry. Using a 2% doped ceramic Nd:YAG amplifier, an output power of 45W was achieved with 158W diode pumping. The cavity configuration was optimized for TEM00 operation and a high spatial quality output (M2 >1.5) was obtained at an output power of 27W. A ceramic Nd:YAG laser with 4% doping was operated at over 1 watt of output power. These are the highest power levels achieved in ceramic Nd:YAG lasers at >1% doping level.