Wavefront improvement in an end-pumped high-power Nd:YAG zigzag slab laser

Techniques for wavefront improvement in an end-pumped Nd:YAG zigzag slab laser amplifier were proposed and demonstrated experimentally. First, a study on the contact materials was conducted to improve the heat transfer between the slab and cooling blocks and to increase the cooling uniformity. Among many attempts, only the use of silicon oil showed an improvement in the wavefront. Thus, the appropriate silicone oil was applied to the amplifier as a contact material. In addition, the wavefront compensation method using a glass rod array was also applied to the amplifier. A very low wavefront distortion was obtained through the use of a silicone-oil contact and glass rod array. The variance of the optical path difference for the entire beam height was 3.87 μm at a pump power of 10.6 kW, and that for the 80% section was 1.69 μm. The output power from the oscillator was 3.88 kW, which means the maximum output extracted from the amplifier at a pump power of 10.6 kW.