Development of High Energy Diode-Pumped Thick-Disk Yb:YAG Chirped-Pulse-Amplification Lasers

Author

Reagan, Brendan A. ; Curtis, Alden H. ; Wernsing, Keith A. ; Furch, Federico J. ; Luther, Bradley M. ; Rocca, Jorge J.

Volume

48

Issue

6

fYear

2012

fDate

6/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

827

Lastpage

835

Abstract

We discuss the results of work directed toward the development of high energy (>;1 J), high average power, diode-pumped picosecond lasers. The design and operation of diode-pumped chirped-pulse-amplification Yb:YAG lasers that combine either room temperature or cryogenically-cooled regenerative amplifiers with cryo-cooled power amplifiers for superior thermal performance and efficient energy extraction are discussed. Results obtained using thick-disk amplifiers include the generation of 100 mJ, 5-ps duration laser pulses at 100-Hz repetition rate, and 1-J pulses of 8.5-ps duration at 10-Hz repetition rate. The performance of the amplifiers in terms of pulse energy and bandwidth under a variety of pump condition is presented.

Keywords

chirp modulation; high-speed optical techniques; optical pumping; power amplifiers; solid lasers; ytterbium; yttrium compounds; YAG:Yb; cryo-cooled power amplifiers; cryogenically cooled regenerative amplifiers; energy extraction; high energy diode-pumped lasers; pump condition; temperature 293 K to 298 K; thermal performance; thick-disk chirped-pulse-amplification; Cavity resonators; Cryogenics; Crystals; Laser excitation; Optical fiber amplifiers; Pump lasers; Semiconductor lasers; Diode-pumped lasers; Yb:YAG lasers; solid-state lasers; ultrafast optics;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2012.2191535

Filename

6184266