An 8.2 J solid-state laser using phase-conjugation to coherently combine eight parallel amplifiers

Author

Sumida, David S. ; Jones, D. Cris ; Rockwell, David A.

Author_Institution

Hughes Res. Labs., Malibu, CA, USA

fYear

1993

fDate

15-18 Nov 1993

Firstpage

698

Lastpage

699

Abstract

Coherent coupling, or beam combining, offers a significant benefit to designers of practical high-power lasers. Unlimited by volume availability, the medium selection trade-offs can be based on many other important material parameters including stimulated-emission cross section and saturation fluence, compatibility with diode pumping, available optical quality, resistance to radiation damage, and thermo-mechanical properties. In our flashlamp-pumped laser, we chose Cr-sensitized, Nd-doped gadolinium scandium gallium garnet (Cr:Nd:GSGG), which is significantly more efficient than Nd:YAG and has thermo-mechanical properties that are vastly superior to those of Nd:glass

Keywords

chromium; gadolinium compounds; garnets; laser beams; neodymium; optical harmonic generation; optical phase conjugation; scandium compounds; solid lasers; 8.2 J; Cr-sensitized, Nd-doped gadolinium scandium gallium garnet; Cr:Nd:GSGG; GdScGG:Cr,Nd; GdScGa5O12:Cr,Nd; GdScGa₃O₁₂:Cr,Nd; beam combining; coherent coupling; coherently combine; diode pumping; flashlamp-pumped laser; high-power lasers; material parameters; optical quality; parallel amplifiers; phase-conjugation; radiation damage; saturation fluence; solid-state laser; stimulated-emission cross section; thermo-mechanical properties; Diodes; Laser beams; Optical coupling; Optical design; Optical materials; Optical pumping; Pump lasers; Solid lasers; Stimulated emission; Thermomechanical processes;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics Society Annual Meeting, 1993. LEOS '93 Conference Proceedings. IEEE

Conference_Location

San Jose, CA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1263-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/LEOS.1993.379382

Filename

379382