Abstract
A directly pumped solar laser with a capacity of 2 kilowatts was built and tested in the solar facility of the Weizmann Institute of Science. The solar light was delivered by 12 standard heliostats of the solar tower to a three-dimensional compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) of 1-m length that is followed by a two-dimensional CPC that contains the laser crystals. The maximum power density used in these experiments was 1.2-kW cm-2. The laser materials successfully tested were Nd:YAG, Nd:YLF, Nd:Cr:GGG, Nd:Cr:GSGG, and alexandrite, Maximum output power of a single element Nd:YAG laser was 127-W and of Nd:Cr:GGG was 60 W. Maximum specific output power of Nd:YAG lasers was 150-W cm-3 and of nd:Cr:GGG was 60-W cm-3. Maximum efficiency of the lasers at high power operation was 5.6% for Nd:YAG and 11% for Nd:Cr:GGG Maximum efficiency of thin rod single element Nd:Cr:GGG was 20%. Maximum gains were 3.6 for Gem Nd:YAG rod, 1.9 for 6-cm Nd:Cr:GGG, and 1.15 for alexandrite. Q-switching of Nd lasers at 80% power efficiency at 5-kHz for Nd:YAG and at 2-kHz for Nd:YLF was also obtained.
© 1993 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
Rui Pereira and Dawei Liang
JTuA7 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 2008
V. Kushawaha, A. Banerjee, and L. Major
CWJ33 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 1993
PHILIP GLECKMAN, ROLAND WINSTON, and MEIR WEKSLER
THK47 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 1989