Review of Faraday Isolators for Kilowatt Average Power Lasers

Abstract

Faraday isolators for high average power lasers operating at room temperature are surveyed. Three devices on [001] oriented TGG crystals with the most known optical schemes are considered: traditional scheme, and schemes with compensation of thermally induced depolarization inside magnetic field and outside magnetic field. We report a unique 30-mm-aperture Faraday isolator with thermally induced depolarization compensation inside magnetic field. It provides 33.5-dB isolation ratio at 1.5-kW average laser power.