210 W, 8.4 mJ Yb:YAG picosecond bulk amplifier

Area of Science:

• Laser Physics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Picosecond lasers are crucial for various scientific and industrial applications.
• Achieving high power and energy simultaneously in Yb:YAG systems presents significant challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a high-power, high-energy Yb:YAG picosecond laser system.
• To ensure stable operation and high beam quality in the laser system.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a cascaded chirped fiber Bragg grating stretcher and fiber pre-amplifier.
• Employed a three-stage thin-rod traveling-wave amplifier with advanced cooling and optical techniques.
• Implemented transmission gratings for pulse compression.

Main Results:

• Achieved 210.9 W average power at 25 kHz repetition rate.
• Obtained 8.4 mJ pulse energy with 1.64 ps pulse duration.
• Demonstrated excellent power stability (0.12% RMS) and beam quality (M² < 1.35).

Conclusions:

• The developed Yb:YAG picosecond laser system successfully delivers high average power and pulse energy.
• The system's stable operation and excellent beam quality make it suitable for advanced applications.