Pump Power Minimization for High Gain cw Laser Amplifiers

摘要

This paper shows how the power needed to pump a multistage cw laser amplifier can be minimized by choosing optimum values for the beam area in each stage. Most applications of high power laser systems demand good beam quality, high efficiency, and frequency stability. A common approach to the design of such systems is the master oscillator-power amplifier configuration. Often the beam quality and stability requirements make it necessary to run the oscillator at powers as low as a fraction of a watt. The amplifier part of the system is then required to provide, with high efficiency, a very large gain, maybe a million or more, to generate the peak power needed. This paper shows how to design the amplifiers to make optimal use of the pump power.