Compact diode-pumped nanosecond Nd:YVO_4 grazing-incidence slab amplifier

摘要

A high average power and high beam quality nanosecond laser is presented that is based on CW diode side-pumped Nd:YVO_4 grazing-incidence slab amplifier. A TEM_(00), passively Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser as the seed laser, generating a M~2≈1.3 beam train of 0.25W, 2.3ns pulses with adjustable repetition rate in the range 5-20kHz. After double-pass amplification, more than 20W of output power with a beam quality of M~2≈1.4 is obtained at an optical-optical efficiency of 35%. The high brightness of this laser system seems ideal for nonlinear optics and laser processing applications.