High-power, longitudinally fiber-pumped, passively Q-switched Nd:YAG oscillator-amplifier

Abstract

A longitudinally fiber-pumped, passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser oscillator-power amplifier system is reported with which a maximum pulse energy of 68 mJ was achieved at high pulse stability, beam quality, and efficiency. Therefore, a compact fiber-coupling interface was developed for stacked arrays of quasi-cw diode lasers, providing a pump power of 1 kW at the fiber end.