High power diode end pumped slab MOPA system

Abstract

Summary form only given. Lasers with diffraction limited beam quality or with very short pulses like 10 ps are limited to low output power. To combine the properties of those high quality lasers with high output power, master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) systems are used. The paper is about a diode laser pumped amplifier, based on a multipass configuration. The concept of the MOPA system presented, combines the advantage of a highly efficient multipass amplifier with a low cost setup, using the line focus of a diode laser stack as pump source and an end pumped Nd:YVO/sub 4/ crystal with only two polished faces. The CW master oscillator can be replaced by a pulse laser with high beam quality. The output power of the system can be scaled by pumping the crystal from two sides, increasing the number of passes and enlarging the crystal width in the unstable direction.