ABSTRACT
Experimental demonstrations of two edge-pumped zigzag slab lasers are presented. The Nd:YAG slab laser generated 127 W of multimode output power with 300W of pump power. Preliminary results with a Yb:YAG slab produced 46 W of output power with 315W of pump power. The edge-pumped slab design permits symmetric conduction cooling and efficient pump absorption and accepts large-numerical-aperture pump sources.
ABSTRACT
We present measurements of the power noise that is due to optical amplification in a laser-diode-pumped Nd:YAG free-space traveling-wave linear amplifier in a master-oscillator-power-amplifier configuration. The quantum noise behavior of the optical amplifier was demonstrated by use of InGaAs photodetectors in a balanced detection configuration, at a total photocurrent of 100 mA and in a frequency band from 6.25 to 15.625 MHz. The experimental results are in good agreement with predictions.
ABSTRACT
We present modeling studies of quasi-three-level laser oscillators, the validity of which was revealed by Ti:Al(2)O(3)-pumped Yb:YAG laser experiments, and these results are shown to be in excellent agreement with the theory. As much as 75% slope efficiency was obtained with a hemispherical laser cavity. Previous modeling calculations of laser performance have been valid only for certain special cases, restricting application to TEM(00) Gaussian beam pumping and lasing profiles. This analysis may be applied to other longitudinally pumped quasi-three-level laser media in which the modes are not only TEM(00) Gaussian beams but also other higher-order transverse modes, including the top-hat pumping profile that can be used to model transverse pumping schemes.
ABSTRACT
We present a full-wafer fabrication process for periodically poled lithium niobate with a 6.5-mum domain period. Samples that were 53 mm long and 0.5 mm thick were obtained with this process for single-pass cw 1064-nm Nd:YAG second-harmonic generation. These samples exhibited 78% of the ideal nonlinear coefficient, had a measured conversion efficiency of 8.5% /W in the low-power limit, and produced 2.7 W of cw 532-nm output with 6.5 W of cw input, which corresponds to 42% power conversion efficiency.
