Power and radiance scaling of a 946nm Nd:YAG planar waveguide laser

Abstract

We present a diode-end-pumped Nd:YAG planar waveguide laser operating on neodymium’s quasi-four-level transition at a wavelength of 946 nm. Two modes of operation are described: a high-power multi-mode monolithic cavity generating 105 W for 210 W of incident pump power with a slope efficiency of ~54%, and secondly, a high-radiance configuration employing an external stable resonator producing a maximum output power of 29.2 W for 86.5 W of incident pump-power, with a slope efficiency of 33%. The output beam quality values of the external cavity were M² of 3.2 by 2.4, leading to a maximum radiance of 0.43 GWcm^-2sr^-1.

SPIE Photonics Europe 2012 Brussels 16-19 April (2012)

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