Beam quality improvement of pulsed Nd:YAG lasers using Brillouin phase conjugation

摘要

Abstract: haseconjugating mirrors (PCMs) the beam quality of solid state lasers can be improved by compensating the thermal lens of the rods at high average powers. Oscillators with one PCM as a highly reflecting mirror and double-pass amplifiers with PCMs have been investigated. PCMs are realized by stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). Nd:YAG and Nd,Cr:GSGG oscillators have been built with pulse repetition rates up to 45 Hz. Stable TEM$-00$/- mode operation has been obtained. Average output powers of 10 watts for 15 ns Q-switched pulses of a Nd:YAG laser and 7 watts for Nd,Cr:GSGG have been achieved. In a double pass Nd:YAG amplifier the thermal lens was compensated leading to a nearly diffraction limited beam with a maximum output power of 40 watts. !16