High energy, high pulse rate laser operation using crystalline adhesive-free bonded Yb:YAG slabs

0574305 - FZÚ 2024 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
De Vido, M. - Phillips, P.J. - Meissner, D. - Meissner, S. - Quinn, G. - Banerjee, S. - Divoký, Martin - Mason, P.D.
High energy, high pulse rate laser operation using crystalline adhesive-free bonded Yb:YAG slabs.
Optics Express. Roč. 17, č. 14 (2023), s. 28101-28111. ISSN 1094-4087
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT EF15_006/0000674
EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 739573 - HiLASE CoE
Grant - others:OP VVV - HiLASE-CoE(XE) CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_006/0000674
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : Yb:YAG slabs * DiPOLE laser amplifier * cryogenic laser amplifiers * AFB technology
OECD category: Optics (including laser optics and quantum optics)
Impact factor: 3.8, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access

We report on the successful amplification of 10 ns pulses to 10 J energy at 10 Hz in a DiPOLE laser amplifier using crystalline Yb:YAG/Cr:YAG composite slabs manufactured using adhesive-free bonding (AFB) technology. We demonstrate that bonded slabs are suitable for operation in high energy cryogenic laser amplifiers. We also report on frequency doubling of the beam amplified in the bonded slabs. When the pulse energy of the output infrared beam is set to 5 J, a pulse energy of 3.9 J is achieved in the green (corresponding to 78% conversion efficiency). Results demonstrate that AFB technology is suitable for producing large-sized gain material slabs and can overcome current limitations in the manufacture of large-aperture gain material pieces. We believe this work will facilitate energy scaling of high energy lasers where aperture scaling of optical elements is not achievable via conventional manufacturing techniques.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0344647