Abstract

A high-power high-efficiency Nd:YAG slab laser with lamp pumping is developed by use of a novel diffusive closed-coupled lamp pump cavity. In cw-mode operation, 1.45 kW of output power is obtained with a slope efficiency of 5.0%. In pulsed-mode operation (50 pulses/s, 25% pulse duty), 1.4 kW of output power is obtained with a slope efficiency of 4.3%. The output power per unit volume is 45 W/cm³. To our knowledge, these output powers and the power per unit volume are the highest obtained for the single-head Nd:YAG slab laser with lamp pumping.

© 1995 Optical Society of America

40-W cw, TEM₀₀-mode, diode-laser-pumped, Nd:YAG miniature-slab laser

R. J. Shine, A. J. Alfrey, and R. L. Byer
Opt. Lett. 20(5) 459-461 (1995)

Inside-pumped Nd:YAG tube laser

U. Wittrock, H. Weber, and B. Eppich
Opt. Lett. 16(14) 1092-1094 (1991)

300-W cw diode-laser side-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser

D. Golla, S. Knoke, W. Schöne, G. Ernst, M. Bode, A. Tünnermann, and H. Welling
Opt. Lett. 20(10) 1148-1150 (1995)

Performance of a 2.3-kW Nd:YAG slab laser system

Norman Hodgson, Shalei Dong, and Qitao Lü
Opt. Lett. 18(20) 1727-1729 (1993)

Efficient operation of a room-temperature Nd:YAG 946-nm laser pumped with multiple diode arrays

F. Hanson
Opt. Lett. 20(2) 148-150 (1995)