Development of high-power LD-pumped thin-slab Yb:YAG laser

摘要

For industrial applications of high average power laser systems, development of high efficiency, high beam quality and compact lasers is important especially in the laser material processing. In recent years, the Yb:YAG lasers have been studied extensively because Yb:YAG has several advantages for high average power operation due to its low thermal loading and broad absorption band for diode-laser plumping. We propose thin slab design with the high aspect ratio in the cross-section of slab laser head and with thickness of less than 1 mm to obtain one-dimensional temperature gradient and reduce the temperature rise in the crystal. A multimode output power of 138 W was obtained at pump power of 344 W.