A 1-J high-brightness frequency-doubled Nd: YAG laser

The authors report development of a 1-J high-brightness, frequency-doubled, Nd: YAG laser consisting of a TEM(00)-mode oscillator, four amplifiers, an optical isolator, and a KD*P doubler cut for type II phase matching at 1064 nm. The system operates at a pulse repetition rate of 10 pps, a pulse width of 17 nsec, and a beam divergence of 0.4 mrad in a 12.5-mm diam beam. The system has run damage-free for greater than twenty million shots with a mean-time-between-failure (MTBF), limited by flashlamp life, of greater than five million shots.