Abstract

Crystals of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) are widely used for harmonic generation of high-power pulsed lasers. To reduce reflective losses, the crystals are typically mounted in cells containing Index matching fluid with durable AR coatings on the cell windows. This complex arrangement has several disadvantages for the large aperture Nd:glass lasers currently used for fusion research, the most important of which are the risk of laser-induced degradation of the index-matching fluid and the generation of intensity-dependent phase aberrations on the pulse due to the nonlinear refractive index of the window material.

© 1984 Optical Society of America