Energetic and thermal performance of high-gain diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG rods

被引:21
作者
Fluck, R [1 ]
Hermann, MR [1 ]
Hackel, LA [1 ]
机构
[1] Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Livermore, CA 94550 USA
来源
APPLIED PHYSICS B-LASERS AND OPTICS | 2000年 / 70卷 / 04期
关键词
D O I
10.1007/s003400050851
中图分类号
O43 [光学];
学科分类号
070207 ; 0803 ;
摘要
We investigated the energetic and thermal performance of a diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser with up to 50 W power deposited as excess heat into a 3-mm-diameter, 10-cm-length rod. The rod design produces an extremely flat gain profile resulting in "textbook" expressions of thermal lensing and birefringence. Thermal and energetic measurements are compared to corresponding "textbook" theoretical expressions. Discrepancies between various published thermo-mechanical YAG parameters are resolved by a self-consistent set of measured and calculated data for rod thermal lens focal lengths, birefringence depolarization and ratio of heat to stored energy (chi). Measured thermal and energetic performance under lasing and nonlasing conditions are presented, which agree with published theoretical expressions and measurements. Compensation of rod thermal lensing with simple spherical concave lenses is demonstrated. In addition various methods for compensating birefringence depolarization are theoretically and experimentally analyzed and compared.
引用
收藏
页码:491 / 498
页数:8
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