Injection-Seeded 500 Hz Repetition Rate High Peak Power Single-Frequency Nd:YAG Laser for Mid-Infrared Generation

We develop an injection-seeded single-frequency neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser with 500 Hz repetition rate and high peak power. The laser construction is designed as seed injection and master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) including single-frequency master oscillator, extra-cavity frequency doubling crystal, and round-trip power amplifier. The master oscillator can emit 1,064 nm laser of 8.4 mJ with 6.8 ns pulse width at the pump energy equal to 23 mJ. A green laser energy of 1.1 mJ is obtained by setting the proper temperature of the LBO crystal. The pulse energy of 1,064 nm laser decreases to 6.5 mJ after passing through the LBO crystal and rises to 25.3 mJ after a round-trip power amplifier corresponding to the extraction efficiency of 29%. The final output pulse width is 6.5 ns, representing a peak power of 3.9 MW. The 1,064 nm laser beam quality factor M² of the master oscillator and the amplified one are 1.3 and 1.5, respectively. The laser will be used to generate mid-infrared where the 532 nm laser with narrow pulse width is to pump sheet optical parametric oscillator (OPO) and the 1,064 nm laser with high peak power to pump the OPO.     

High power high beam quality diode-pumped 1319-nm Nd:YAG oscillator-amplifier laser system

This paper demonstrated a high power and high beam quality diode-pumped 1319-nm Nd:YAG master oscillator-power amplifier laser system. A thermally near-unstable resonator with four-rod birefringence compensation flat--flat cavity was adopted as the master oscillator. A solid etalon was inserted in the unidirectional ring resonator to compress the laser linewidth. Under a repetition rate of 500~Hz and pulse width of 160~\mus, the master oscillator delivers an average output power of 16.8~W at 1319~nm with linear polarisation, beam quality factor M^{2} = 1.16 and linewidth of 3.2~GHz. A double-pass power amplifier with two amplifier stages was employed for higher power scaling and the output power was amplified to be 25.9~W with M^{2} = 1.43.     

侧面泵浦主振荡功率放大器中的光束质量提高

报道了一种利用球差补偿效应提高侧面泵浦主振荡功率放大器输出光束质量的实验装置。在理论上提出了一种新的球差补偿方法,利用正球差经过会聚透镜焦点后向负球差转化的现象,补偿下一放大级中的正球差效应。在实验上搭建了两级放大的侧面泵浦Nd:YAG主振荡功率放大器。在连续输出的情况下,从振荡级输出功率为42W、光束质量因子为1.48的种子光,经过一级放大后的功率为74W,光束质量因子恶化为1.80;继续经过二级放大后,光束质量因子提高为1.40。实验结果表明,所提出的球差补偿理论是提高激光放大过程中光束质量的有效手段。     

基于大基模体积的10mJ飞秒钛宝石激光再生放大器

文章报导了基于大基模体积的高能量飞秒钛宝石激光再生放大器的设计与实验研究,在重复频率10 Hz、抽运能量60 mJ的激励下,得到了单脉冲能量17.4 mJ的种子脉冲放大结果,压缩后的脉冲宽度为40.6 fs,能量为13.9 mJ.借助于此大基模体积再生腔,仅增加一级多通放大,实现了峰值功率达1.9 TW飞秒激光脉冲输出.结果表明,大模体积再生放大不仅降低了后续放大对抽运能量的要求,也可以单独压缩实现再生腔直接输出10 mJ量级的飞秒激光脉冲,是大能量高峰值功率飞秒激光系统的优质前端.     

400 Hz高光束质量高功率短脉冲激光器

研制了大能量高光束质量短脉冲激光器,系统采用主振荡+预放大器+主放大器2级主振荡功率放大器(MOPA)结构。采用双棒热效应补偿改善光束质量的措施,在重复频率400 Hz时实现单脉冲能量40 mJ、光束质量因子约为1.2的激光输出。激光器放大后实现单路脉冲能量712.5 mJ、脉宽12.4 ns的激光输出,采用球差补偿的方法提高了激光器的光束质量,在最大输出功率下实现了光束质量因子小于2.3,光光效率27.7%。偏振合束后,激光器输出能量大于1.4 J。     

kW级主振荡功率放大光纤激光器输出特性

分析了kW级光纤激光器实现单模激光输出的模式控制方式。采用主振荡功率放大方式,实现了工作波长1.08 m、最大输出功率1.05 kW的全光纤单模激光输出。对激光光谱和光束质量随激光功率的变化等输出特性进行了研究,结果表明:随着激光功率的增大中心波长和光束质量无变化,但谱宽逐渐展宽。分析了激光光谱展宽的原因,认为随着激光功率的增大,光栅纤芯的折射率变化增大,引起本振级的谱宽展宽,而本振级因谱宽展宽引入的噪声在放大级被放大,再加上放大级本身引入的自发辐射,共同造成放大级的谱宽展宽。对光束质量变差的原因进行了分析,认为光纤弯曲导致原先在纤芯中传输的激光部分被泄露到包层中,从而使光束质量变差。     

Generation of 220 mJ nanosecond pulses at a 10 Hz repetition rate with excellent beam quality in a diode-pumped Yb:YAG MOPA system

A novel all-diode-pumped master oscillator power amplifier system based on Yb:YAG crystal rods has been developed. It consists of a Q-switched oscillator delivering 3 mJ, 6.4 ns pulses at a 10 Hz repetition rate and an additional four-pass amplifier, which boosts the output energy to 220 mJ, while a close to TEM(00) beam quality could be observed. Additionally a simulation of the amplification was written that allows for further scaling considerations.     

High-energy single longitudinal mode 1 ns all-solid-state 266 nm lasers

A single longitudinal mode (SLM) short pulse high energy all-solid-state ultraviolet laser is demonstrated in this paper. Through the use of a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) architecture, we have been able to provide high-energy outputs with the combination of short pulses, good beam quality and SLM typically produced by a 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser. The passively Q-switched SLM Nd:YAG laser in a twisted-mode cavity is operated as the seed source. After the seed is amplified by a double-pass pre-amplifier and a single-pass main-amplifier, the 100 μJ, 1064 nm, ∼1 ns seeding pulse was amplified up to 400 mJ energy in the total pulse train. Using a KTP crystal for second-harmonic generation and a CLBO for fourth-harmonic generation, we successfully obtained a short pulse, high energy ultraviolet laser of 266 nm, with the output energy of 108 mJ, pulse width 1 ns and M²<5. PACS 42.65.Ky; 42.72.Bj; 42.60.Da     

Energy-scalable pulsed mid-IR source using orientation-patterned GaAs

Coherent mid-IR sources based on orientation-patterned GaAs (OPGaAs) are of significant interest in diverse scientific, medical, and military applications. The generation of long-wavelength mid-IR beams in OPGaAs using optical parametric oscillation exhibits limitations in the obtainable pulse energy and peak power. The master oscillator power amplifier concept is demonstrated in OPGaAs, by which a mid-IR source based on optical parametric oscillation can be scaled to high energy by amplification of the output of the optical parametric oscillator in an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). A fivefold increase in the pulse energy is obtained using this method by amplifying 3.85μm pulses in an OPGaAs OPA pumped by a Th,Ho:YLF Q-switched laser.     

Coherent combination of high-power, zigzag slab lasers

We demonstrate a scalable architecture for a high-power, high-brightness, solid-state laser based on coherent combinations of master oscillator power amplifier chains. A common master oscillator injects a sequence of multikilowatt Nd:YAG zigzag slab amplifiers. Adaptive optics correct the wavefront of each amplified beamlet. The beamlets are tiled side by side and actively phase locked to form a single output beam. The laser produces 19 kW with beam quality <2x diffraction limited. To the best of our knowledge, this is the brightest cw solid-state laser demonstrated to date.     

AOM fourfold pass for efficient Q-switching and stable high peak power laser pulses

We report on a scheme for efficient acousto-optical Q-switching. A flash lamp pumped Nd:YAG oscillator with an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) fourfold pass configuration is presented. The setup combines two important advantages: enhancement of the diffraction efficiency by additional AOM passes and a compact oscillator design in spite of an extension of the optical path length. A flash lamp pumped oscillator with an average output power of 7 W and a beam quality of M² = 1.2 is developed. The system operates with a 100 Hz repetition rate for the flash lamps. In each pumping pulse a pulse train of 1 up to 40 Q-switched laser pulses is generated. The pulse duration is from 15 to 120 ns. In comparison to a former setup (AOM double pass) the AOM fourfold pass configuration allows single pulses with energy above 20 mJ and a pulse peak power of more than 1 MW. In addition, the beam profile is improved due to a better separation of the incident and diffracted beam caused by the AOM. The laser is dedicated as master oscillator in a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system where pulse peak powers in the MW range should be achieved.     

Performance of a CW pumped Nd:YVO4 amplifier with kHz pulses

Until recently, simple and reliable high repetition-rate laser sources with nanosecond pulses much shorter than from conventional A-O Q-switch lasers were not available. However over the past 2 years we have developed such lasers based on proprietary fast E-O switching technology, which allows designs delivering 1 ns pulses and subnanosecond jitter for good synchronisation. The technology provides pulses with multi-kW peak power and repetition-rates to >100 kHz.Most recently, the performance of these short pulse lasers has been developed further by implementing oscillator/amplifier (master oscillator and power amplifier, MOPA) technology which increases the output to >1 W average power. Here we report on a simple model that has been used to predict the performance of the CW pumped Nd:YVO₄ amplifier used in the MOPA laser. The model is based on the well-known expressions for the saturated gain applying to laser pulses, but more usually applied to pulse-excited amplifiers. The model is shown to allow a good interpretation of the amplifier behaviour for kHz pulses and to be a useful tool for predicting the performance of the MOPA laser.     

400-Hz pulsed single-longitudinal-mode Nd:YAG laser with more than 100-mJ pulse energy and good beam quality

An all solid state master-oscillator-power-amplifier laser system was experimentally investigated using a pulsed-diode-pumped single-longitudinal-mode Nd:YAG laser as a master oscillator. The system was operated with 400 Hz pulse repetition rate. The amplifiers contain a pre-amplifier and a power amplifier. A specially designed large aperture tapered fiber as a solid state phase conjugation mirror was used in the power amplifier to improve the beam quality. The maximum pulse energy of 101 mJ is obtained after double-pass amplification. The pulse duration is less than 6 ns. The corresponding peak power reached 16.8 MW for each single pulse.     

高功率全固态绿光激光技术研究进展

 报道了高功率全固态腔内和腔外倍频两种绿光激光器研究进展。腔内倍频绿光激光器采用L型腔双棒串接结构,在重复频率10 kHz时,用三硼酸锂晶体倍频获得绿光功率186 W,光-光效率达15.8%。腔外倍频绿光激光器采用主振荡和功率放大器,在重复频率400 Hz时,获得基频激光单脉冲能量1.2 J,采用Ⅱ类相位匹配KTP晶体腔外倍频,获得525 mJ的绿光输出,倍频效率为43.7%。采用偏振合成技术获得了单脉冲能量大于1 J的绿光输出。在该激光放大器实验装置上,进行了双模块热效应补偿技术和受激布里渊散射相位共轭技术实验研究,改善了激光光束质量。     

Femtosecond Er laser system based on side-coupled fibers

A possibility of the femtosecond laser system with a pulse duration of about 300 fs and an energy of 150 nJ in a range of 1.6 μm based on side-coupled fibers one of which is doped with erbium and is pumped through cladding is demonstrated. The parameters of a ring master oscillator and an amplifier that make it possible to generate femtosecond pulses with a peak power of up to 450 kW are presented.     

High-beam-quality, 5.1 J, 108 Hz diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod oscillator-amplifier laser system

A high efficiency, high beam quality diode-pumped Nd:YAG master oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) laser with six amplifier stages is demonstrated. The oscillator with two-rod birefringence compensation was designed as a thermally determined near hemispherical resonator, which presents a pulse energy of 223 mJ with a beam quality value of M² = 1.29 at a repetition rate of 108 Hz. The MOPA system delivers a pulse energy of 5.1 J with a pulse width of 230 μs, a M² factor of 3.6 and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 38.5%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest pulse energy for a diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser operation with a high beam quality and a pulse width of hundreds of microseconds at a repetition rate of over 100 Hz.     

Coaxial combination of coherent laser beams

Based on polarization state conversion, a technique for coaxially coherent combination of laser beams is introduced. Laser beams can be coaxially coupled into one beam with high combination efficiency and perfect beam quality. A polarized laser beam combination system based on master oscillator power amplifier （MOPA） configuration is developed and the efficiencies of both unit combination and the whole system are investigated. In the experiment of combining four beams with single longitudinal mode, a combination efficiency of 85.3% is achieved. It can be further enhanced by improving the stability of experimental environment and the quality of optical and mechanical components.     

300 W quasi-continuous-wave diffraction-limited output from a diode-pumped Nd:YAG master oscillator power amplifier with fiber phase-conjugate stimulated Brillouin scattering mirror

A master oscillator power amplifier system comprising a cw Nd:YAG master oscillator, a quasi-cw diode-pumped power amplifier, and a fiber-based stimulated Brillouin scattering phase-conjugate mirror is reported. A 12-pass amplifier configuration is employed to achieve high gain in a small-length slab amplifier. Residual and pump-induced optical inhomogeneities in the slab are corrected by the fiber phase conjugator to achieve diffraction-limited output beam quality. 300 W quasi-cw output and a maximal attainable gain of approximately 150 for the system are obtained.     

Diode-pumped Nd:YLF slab master oscillator power amplifier laser system with 655 m J output at 50 Hz repetition rate

A laser-diode-pumped high-pulse-energy Nd:Li YF4 master oscillator power amplifier 1053 nm laser system is demonstrated. We design a home-made pump module to homogenize the pump intensity through the ray tracing method. To increase the extraction efficiency, the pre-amplifier adopts a double-pass amplification structure. At a repetition rate of 50 Hz, 655 m J pulse energy and 12.9 ns pulse width of 1053 nm laser is obtained from the master oscillator power amplifier system. The corresponding peak power is 51 MW. The optical-to-optical efficiency of the system is about 9.7%.     

Pulsed solid-state laser system with fiber phase conjugation and 315 W average output power

Solid-state laser sources with high average output power and high beam quality are required for numerous applications in industry and science. To improve the beam quality, stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) mirrors based on optical phase conjugation are used to compensate for phase distortions in master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) systems. SBS phase conjugation in commercially available silica optical fibers facilitates the construction of high-power solid-state laser systems with high beam quality. Here we present a flash lamp-pumped, passively Q-switched Nd:YAP system which delivers an average output power of 315 W with M²=2.6 at a wavelength of 1.08 μm. Received: 11 July 2001 / Revised version: 28 September 2001 / Published online: 23 November 2001