Nd:YAG Ceramic ThinZag (registered trademark) High-Power Laser Development

Abstract

Over the past decade, solid-state lasers have demonstrated remarkable power in scaling. To a large extent, the emergence of solidstate lasers as competitive high-power devices is due to the availability of highly efficient (~60 percent), high-power (> 100 W), low-cost (< $10/W mounted) laser diode bars. This chapter presented an overview of the approach, history, and current state of scaling Nd:YAG ceramic ThinZag lasers to significant power levels using a single-aperture power oscillator architecture. These lasers are compact and scalable to 100 kW and higher power levels. Recently average power levels in excess of 100-kW output were achieved in final government testing of the JHPSSL program. A critical issue, as with all very high power solid-state lasers, is achieving excellent beam quality at the highest powers.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA548322

Entities

People

  • Alexander Mandl
  • Daniel E. Klimek

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Charge Coupled Devices
  • Defense Systems
  • Deformable Mirrors
  • Laser Beams
  • Laser Diodes
  • Laser Mediums
  • Lasers
  • Light (Electromagnetic Radiation)
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Near Field
  • Optical Materials
  • Optics
  • Optomechanics
  • Power Meters
  • Solid State Lasers
  • Steady State

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.
  • Materials Science and Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy