Advanced Waveguide Lasers Based on Optically Transparent Polycrystalline Materials for Power Scaling Studies.

摘要

The aim of this research was to perform power scaling studies on optically transparent materials using advanced waveguides with the aim of developing highly efficient, operationally stable solid state lasers of high beam quality. Optically transparent polycrystalline materials were fabricated into conventional (multi-layer, YAG-Nd:YAG-YAG) and simple (mono-layer, Nd:YAG) ceramic waveguide structures to make large, high-quality samples for optimization and comparative performance studies. Laser oscillation properties and the relationship between absorbed and output power was determined for conventional (output power = 140 W) and simple (output power = 160 W) core structures. Ceramic design fabrication approaches were investigated as a method to 1) investigate cooling of the waveguides, and 2) control beam profile and improve oscillation efficiency. Optical qualities of ceramic composite samples were inspected by polarization and optical microscopy. Improvements in cooling to greater than 800W were realized and thus allowed stable high output laser oscillation performance.