We report on frequency doubling of high-energy, high repetition rate ns pulses from a cryogenically gas cooled multi-slab ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser system, Bivoj/DiPOLE, using a type-I phase matched lithium triborate crystal. We achieved conversion to 515 nm with energy of 95 J at repetition rate of 10 Hz and conversion efficiency of 79%. High conversion efficiency was achieved due to successful depolarization compensation of the fundamental input beam.

三重态?三重态湮灭上转换是一种新型光子上转换技术，具有使用连续波光源激发、上转换波长灵活可调和上转换量子效率高等优点。在该上转换过程中，三重态光敏剂吸收激发光、发生系间窜越并作为三重态能量给体，通过三重态能量转移过程，敏化能量受体，处于三重态的受体分子发生三重态–三重态湮灭，产生能发生高效荧光过程的单重激发态（即上转换发光），从而将低能量的光子转换为高能量的光子，这为提高太阳能电池的光电转换效率或光催化的效率等，提供了一种新的途径。实验中需要选用合适的激光器激发上转换体系产生上转换发光，并研究其具体光物理过程。如选用连续波二极管泵浦固体激光器（DPSSL）作为光源，激发光敏剂/受体体系进行上转换实验，可方便地研究激光功率密度对上转换发光效率的影响。此外，为了研究上转换发光的动力学过程，使用光学参量振荡器（OPO）可调谐纳秒脉冲激光器激发上转换体系，可以研究光敏剂的三重态寿命、分子间能量转移以及三重态–三重态湮灭等过程的动力学特征。文中介绍了在三重态–三重态湮灭上转换实验中连续波和脉冲激光器的使用方法。

We report on the successful demonstration of a 150 J nanosecond pulsed cryogenic gas cooled, diode-pumped multi-slab Yb:YAG laser operating at 1 Hz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest energy ever recorded for a diode-pumped laser system.

We report on a high-repetition-rate, high-power continuously pumped Nd:GdVO₄ regenerative amplifier. Numerical simulations successfully pinpoint the optimum working point free of bifurcation instability with simultaneous efficient energy extraction. At a repetition rate of 100 kHz, a maximum output power of 23 W was obtained with a pulse duration of 27 ps, corresponding to a pulse energy of $230~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{J}$. The system displayed an outstanding stability with a root mean square power noise as low as 0.3%. The geometry of the optical resonator and the pumping scheme enhanced output power in the $\text{TEM}_{00}$ mode with a single bulk crystal. Accordingly, nearly diffraction-limited beam quality was produced with $M^{2}\approx 1.2$ at full pump power.

In this paper we review the design and development of a 100 J, 10 Hz nanosecond pulsed laser, codenamed DiPOLE100X, being built at the Central Laser Facility (CLF). This 1 kW average power diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is based on a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) design, which includes two cryogenic gas cooled amplifier stages based on DiPOLE multi-slab ceramic Yb:YAG amplifier technology developed at the CLF. The laser will produce pulses between 2 and 15 ns in duration with precise, arbitrarily selectable shapes, at pulse repetition rates up to 10 Hz, allowing real-time shape optimization for compression experiments. Once completed, the laser will be delivered to the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facility in Germany as a UK-funded contribution in kind, where it will be used to study extreme states of matter at the High Energy Density (HED) instrument.

Recent results in the development of diode-driven high energy, high repetition rate, picosecond lasers, including the demonstration of a cryogenic Yb:YAG active mirror amplifier that produces 1.5 J pulses at 500 Hz repetition rate (0.75 kW average power) are reviewed. These pulses are compressed resulting in the generation of ${\sim}5~\text{ps}$ duration, 1 J pulses with 0.5 kW average power. A full characterization of this high power cryogenic amplifier, including at-wavelength interferometry of the active region under ${>}1~\text{kW}$ average power pump conditions, is presented. An initial demonstration of operation at 1 kW average power (1 J, 1 kHz) is reported.

The Laboratory for Intense Lasers (L2I) is a research centre in optics and lasers dedicated to experimental research in high intensity laser science and technology and laser plasma interaction. Currently the laboratory is undergoing an upgrade with the goal of increasing the versatility of the laser systems available to the users, as well as increasing the pulse repetition rate. In this paper we review the current status of the laser research and development programme of this facility, namely the upgraded capability and the recent progress towards the installation of an ultrashort, diode-pumped OPCPA laser system.

Further advancement of high-energy pulsed lasers requires a parallel development of appropriate optical components. Several different optical components, such as mirrors and antireflection-coated windows, which are essential for the design of HiLASE high average power lasers were tested. The following paper summarizes results on the measurements of laser-induced damage threshold of such components, and clearly shows their capabilities and limitations for such a demanding application.This work is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic (project HiLASE: CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0027, project DPSSLasers: CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0143, project Postdok: CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0057). This research was partially supported by the grant RVO 68407700.