250-W average-power Nd:YAG laser with self-adaptive cavity completed by dynamic refractive-index gratings

Author

Antipov, Oleg L. ; Chausov, Dmitry V. ; Kuzhelev, Alexander S. ; Vorob, Vladimir A. ; Zinoviev, Andrey P.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Appl. Phys., Acad. of Sci., Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Volume

37

Issue

5

fYear

2001

fDate

5/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

716

Lastpage

724

Abstract

A high average power laser oscillator with a cavity completed by a nonlinear mirror formed by refractive index gratings which accompany population gratings induced in Nd:YAG laser crystals by generating beams themselves is investigated numerically and experimentally. The role of different noise sources at the initial stage of nonlinear cavity formation is studied. The adaptation of the cavity formed by nonlinear dynamic mirrors to intracavity distortions is demonstrated. The generation of beams with average power up to 250 W, near-diffraction-limited divergence, and long coherence length has been achieved

Keywords

adaptive optics; holographic gratings; laser beams; laser cavity resonators; laser feedback; laser mirrors; neodymium; nonlinear media; population inversion; refractive index; solid lasers; 200 to 250 W; 250 W; Nd:YAG laser; Nd:YAG laser crystals; YAG:Nd; YAl5O12:Nd; adaptation; average power; average-power laser; beams generation; cavity; dynamic refractive-index gratings; high average power laser oscillator; intracavity distortions; long coherence length; near-diffraction-limited divergence; noise sources; nonlinear cavity formation; nonlinear dynamic mirrors; nonlinear mirror; population gratings; refractive index gratings; self-adaptive cavity; Crystals; Gratings; Laser beams; Laser noise; Mirrors; Nonlinear distortion; Oscillators; Power generation; Power lasers; Refractive index;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.918586

Filename

918586