40 J class laser oscillation of Nd-doped silica glass with high thermal shock parameter

Abstract

The authors demonstrated a 40J class laser oscillation from a bulk-type Nd-doped silica glass with a high thermal shock parameter. A maximum output energy of 37.3J was obtained from a laser oscillator that consisted of a 30% output coupler with a 30mm diameter and 300mm length laser medium. The thermal shock parameter, a figure of merit for the thermal toughness of the materials, was estimated to be 12.0W∕cm, which is 1.5 times larger than neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (7.9W∕cm). These results show that the Nd-doped silica glass has the potential to be installed in high-average-power or high-peak-power lasers.