Intra-cavity frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser with dual-stability-range cavity emitting high power near-diffraction-limited radiation in CW and Q-switched mode

Dirk Woll; Jeffrey Gregg; James Lefort; James J. Morehead; Jennifer Lindahl

doi:10.1117/12.840774

17 February 2010 Intra-cavity frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser with dual-stability-range cavity emitting high power near-diffraction-limited radiation in CW and Q-switched mode

Dirk Woll, Jeffrey Gregg, James Lefort, James J. Morehead, Jennifer Lindahl

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Proceedings Volume 7578, Solid State Lasers XIX: Technology and Devices; 75781P (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.840774
Event: SPIE LASE, 2010, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

A diode-pumped frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser has been demonstrated which emits 7.2 W of 532-nm radiation in the CW mode as well as 23 ns, 2.7 mJ pulses at a repetition rate of 10 kHz in the Q-switched mode. The high power in both modes was achieved by intra-cavity second harmonic generation in lithium triborate. The nonlinear output coupling through SHG in this laser causes a factor of 5.7 change of intra-cavity power between the CW and the Q-switched mode. The resulting variation of the thermal lens in the laser rod makes it challenging to maintain a geometrically stable cavity in both operation regimes, which is essential for diffraction limited beam quality. Diffraction limited beam quality with M² values of less than 1.1 in the CW and less than 1.2 in the Q-switched regime was achieved by a novel dual-stabilityrange cavity-design. This design provides geometrically stable cavity configurations in both operation regimes, which are separated by an unstable region. This cavity makes it possible to switch between the two operation regimes without any moving components.

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Dirk Woll, Jeffrey Gregg, James Lefort, James J. Morehead, and Jennifer Lindahl "Intra-cavity frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser with dual-stability-range cavity emitting high power near-diffraction-limited radiation in CW and Q-switched mode", Proc. SPIE 7578, Solid State Lasers XIX: Technology and Devices, 75781P (17 February 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.840774

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KEYWORDS

Q switching

Continuous wave operation

Mirrors

Q switched lasers

Nonlinear crystals

Nd:YAG lasers

Crystals

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