An overview of the latest developments of kilowatt-level diode pumped solid state lasers for advanced applications at the HiLASE Centre is presented. An overview of subcontracted and in-house-developed laser beamlines is presented. The aim of development is to build kW-class beamlines delivering picosecond pulses between 1-and 100-kHz repetition rates and high-energy nanosecond pulses at 10 Hz. The picosecond beamlines are based on Yb:YAG thin-disk amplifiers and chirped pulse amplification. The current status of the beamlines' performance is reported. The advantages of zero-phonon line and pulsed
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Appl. Sci. 2015, 5638 pumping are demonstrated with respect to efficiency, thin disk temperature and beam quality. New diagnostics methods supporting the high average power lasers' development, such as the high-resolution spectroscopy of Yb-doped materials, in situ thin disk deformation measurements, single-shot M 2 measurement, realization of wavefront correction by a deformable mirror and the laser performance of a new mixed garnet ceramics, are described. The energetic, thermal and fluid-mechanical numerical modeling for the optimization of the multi-slab amplifiers is also described.
Abstract:The development of kW-class diode-pumped picosecond laser sources emitting at various wavelengths started at the HiLASE Center four years ago. A 500-W Perla C thin-disk laser with a diffraction limited beam and repetition rate of 50-100 kHz, a frequency conversion to mid-infrared (mid-IR), and second to fifth harmonic frequencies was demonstrated. We present an updated review on the progress in the development of compact picosecond and femtosecond high average power radiation sources covering the ultraviolet (UV) to mid-IR spectral range at the HiLASE Center. We also report on thin-disk manufacturing by atomic diffusion bonding, which is a crucial technology for future high-power laser development.
In this work, we present measurements of efficiency-optimized 940 nm diode laser bars with long resonators that are constructed with robustly passivated output facets at the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH). The measurements were performed at room temperature on a test bench developed at HiLASE Centre, as a function of operating condition. The single-diode bars generated > 1.0 kW when tested with 1 ms pulses at 1-10Hz operating frequency, corresponding to > 1 J per pulse. The maximum electrical-to-optical efficiency was > 60 %, with operating efficiency at 1 kW of > 50%, limited by the ~ 200 µΩ resistance of the bar packaging. In addition, slow axis divergence at 1 kW was below 6° FWHM and spectral width at 1 kW was below 7 nm FWHM, as needed for pumping Yb-doped solid state amplifier crystals.
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