Abstract
A new technique for face pumping of slab lasers uses transfer of light from 10 quasi-cw laser diode bars through a slotted mirror into a rectangular, highly reflective pump chamber, giving efficient multipass pumping of a thin Nd:glass slab laser. A slope efficiency of 28% and a maximum pulse energy of 65 mJ have been obtained, and gain and loss measurements with thickness t = 0.45-1.04 mm have confirmed the 1/t scaling of gain in thin slabs and the high efficiency of pump light transfer. © 1996 Optical Society of America.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 594-596 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Optics Letters |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| Publication status | Published - 15 Apr 1996 |