TEM00 MODE EFFICIENCY ENHANCEMENT IN HIGH POWER DIODE-SIDEPUMPED Nd:YLF LASERS

Author(s)

Eduardo Colombo Sousa

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN/BT)
• Defense date: 2008-08-08

Examining board members

Niklaus Ursus Wetter; Anderson Zanardi de Freitas; Nicolau Andre Silveira Rodrigues

• Advisor: Niklaus Ursus Wetter

Abstract

For many laser applications high beam quality in fundamental mode is necessary. In this work we study the conditions that achieve high efficiency and high beam quality by optimizing the overlap between the fundamental mode and the excited region inside the active medium, using novel cavities. The highest efficiency reported so far for diode side pumped 1053 nm Nd:YLF lasers is demonstrated using a compact cavity design based on total internal reflection at the pumped face, obtaining a maximum output power of 9,5W in multimode operation for 21W of pump power, which represents 45% of optical efficiency. Beam quality improvement is demonstrated using a cavity with two bounces at the active medium, achieving a maximum output power of 6,9W during fundamental operation with M2 beam quality factor of 1,16 x 1,05 in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. (AU)