120 watt continuous wave solar-pumped laser with a liquid light-guide lens and an Nd:YAG rod

Abstract

We propose a simple and efficient pumping approach for a high-power solar-pumped laser by using a liquid light-guide lens (LLGL) and a hybrid pumping cavity. A 2×2 m Fresnel lens is used as a primary concentrator to collect natural sunlight; 120 W cw laser power and a 4.3% total slope efficiency are achieved with a 6-mm diameter Nd:YAG rod within a 14-mm diameter LLGL. The corresponded collection efficiency is 30.0 W/m(2), which is 1.5 times larger than the previous record. This result is unexpectedly better than that of Cr:Nd:YAG ceramics. It is because the scattering coefficient of Cr:Nd:YAG ceramics is 0.004cm(1), which is 2 times larger than that of the Nd:YAG crystal, although both have similar saturation gains.