Thermal lens stabilized flat-flat resonator 15-W cw Nd:YVO4 laser end-pumped by a diode laser array

摘要

A diode-laser-array end-pumped CW Nd:YVO$-4$/ laser, formed with a flat-flat resonator, and capable of producing great than 15 W of CW radiation, has been demonstrated. At the incident pump power of 22 W, the output power of 13.22 W was obtained, resulting in an optical conversion efficiency of 60.1%, while the slope efficiency was determined to be 64.8%. It is shown that the misalignment sensitivity characteristic of flat-flat resonators can be considerably improved by the stabilizing effect of the pump-induced thermal lens.