Abstract

A novel design for pumping the Yb:YAG thin disc laser is presented. By increasing the number of absorption passes from eight to sixteen the crystal thickness can be reduced to about 240 µm. With this setup an optical efficiency of η = 57. 7 % at an output power of37.6 Wis demonstrated at room temperature. In TEM₀₀ operation an output power of 31.9 W is obtained corresponding to η = 50.2 %. Furthermore, 6.9 W single frequency output at 515 nm is generated by intracavity second-harmonic generation using an LBO crystal.

© 1999 Optical Society of America