Thermal effects in Yb:YAG single-crystal thin-rod amplifier.

This work presents a new design for the laser gain module based on a ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Yb:YAG) single-crystal thin rod. Thermal effects (temperature, phase, and polarization distortion of laser radiation) and small signal gain are investigated both experimentally and theoretically. We then analyzed the influence of thermal effects and amplified spontaneous emission on the power scaling of the laser based on the gain module. A small signal gain as high as 3.3 per pass was experimentally achieved.