Abstract

A Nd:YAG slab laser is a promising candidate for material processing as it has potential of producing a high-power beam with good focusability. The maximum power of a single head Nd:YAG slab laser has been around 1 kW because of optical distortion induced in the laser medium. We have developed a lamp pumped, single head 1.4 kW Nd:YAG slab laser. A Brewster angle Nd:YAG slab (6 × 25 × 213 mm³, 0.8 AT.% doping) is used. The number of total internal reflections of the laser beam in the slab medium is 20. The slab is pumped over a length of 150 mm by four krypton arclamps with the arc length of 6 inches and inner diameter of 7 mm.

© 1994 IEEE