Chinese Optics Letters, 2024, 22 (3): 031402, Published Online: Mar. 22, 2024
22 kW near-diffraction-limited Yb:YAG slab laser amplifier without adaptive optics correction
Abstract
A high-power CW Yb:YAG slab laser amplifier with no adaptive optics correction has been experimentally established. At room temperature, the amplifier emits a power of 22 kW with an average beam quality (β) of less than 3 in 0.5 min. To our knowledge, this is the brightest slab laser without closed-loop adaptive optics demonstrated to date. In addition, an extracted power of 17 kW with an optical extraction efficiency of 33%, corresponding to a residual optical path difference of less than 0.5 µm, is achieved with the single Yb:YAG slab gain module. The slab gain module has the potential to be scalable to higher powers while maintaining good beam quality. This makes a high-power solid-state laser system simpler and more robust.
Dan Wang, Ping He, Tangjian Zhou, Mi Li, Yingchen Wu, Yanan Wang, Jianli Shang, Qingsong Gao, Kai Zhang, Chun Tang, Rihong Zhu. 22 kW near-diffraction-limited Yb:YAG slab laser amplifier without adaptive optics correction[J]. Chinese Optics Letters, 2024, 22(3): 031402.