205 W TEM₀₀-mode-stacked Nd:YAG rotary disk laser with air cooling

Area of Science:

• Laser Physics and Photonics
• Materials Science
• Optical Engineering

Background:

• High-power continuous-wave (CW) lasers are crucial for various scientific and industrial applications.
• Traditional laser designs often face challenges with thermal management and beam quality at high power levels.
• Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG) lasers are widely used but require efficient cooling and resonator configurations for optimal performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate an efficient, high-power CW Nd:YAG laser.
• To investigate the performance of a stacked and rotary-disk gain medium configuration.
• To achieve high output power with excellent beam quality and long-term stability.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a stacked and rotary-disk configuration for the Nd:YAG gain medium.
• Employed air-cooling at room temperature for the gain medium disks.
• Used a fiber-coupled end-pumped setup with a diode laser pump power of 347 W.
• Configured a simple resonator cavity for fundamental transverse mode operation.

Main Results:

• Achieved an output power of 205 W in the fundamental transverse mode.
• Measured beam quality factors (M²) of 1.143 and 1.169 in orthogonal directions.
• Obtained optical slope efficiencies of approximately 68%.
• Recorded a long-term RMS instability of 0.276% over a 6-hour continuous measurement period.

Conclusions:

• The stacked and rotary-disk configuration enables efficient, high-power CW operation of Nd:YAG lasers.
• The demonstrated laser system offers excellent beam quality and remarkable long-term stability.
• This design presents a promising advancement for high-power laser sources in demanding applications.