Progress in the development of solid state disk laser

Abstract

This work describes recent progress in the development of a solid-state disk laser that uses composite laser disks in active mirror configuration, edge-pumping, and cooling by microchannel-type heat exchanger. An innovative pressure clamping technique was used to mitigate thermo-mechanical distortions in the disk. A test article Yb:glass disk was operated at a thermal load corresponding to about 1 kW laser output in a steady-state regime with surface temperatures around 90°C while exhibiting less than λ_Laser/10 rms phase error. Measured pump uniformity approaching 90% validated the edge-pumping architecture.