High-power lasersߞ their performance, limitations, and future

Their many new, imaginative applications have led to the development of lasers with power outputs exceeding the ability of the laser materials to withstand damage for more than a few shots. The apparent necessary remedial steps would be to learn how to increase damage threshold and to determine how to improve laser parameters that will not degrade life. This article discusses how high power is attained in a laser system and it reviews the data on laser performance to establish the principal causes of failure and to determine how to rectify them. An integral part of the analysis is a detailed treatment of the measurement and interpretation of luminance.