Efficient ASE control in cryogenic gas cooled Yb:YAG multislab amplifiers with Cr4+:YAG interlayers. (8th February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xiao, Kaibo; Yuan, Xiaodong; Yan, Xiongwei; Li, Min; Jiang, Xinying; Wang, Zhenguo; Li, Mingzhong; Zheng, Wanguo; Zheng, Jiangang
• Is Part Of: Laser physics. Volume 26:Number 3(2016:Mar.)
• Publication Date: 2016-02-08
• Subjects: diode-pumped solid-state laser -- lasers amplifiers -- Yb:YAG -- ASE; Lasers -- Periodicals; 621.36605
• DOI: 10.1088/1054-660X/26/3/035003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1054-660X

Abstract

Abstract: A novel approach based on Cr 4+ :YAG interlayers to break the transmission paths of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in a cryogenic gas cooled Yb:YAG multislab amplifier geometry was presented for the suppression of ASE in the power scaling of high energy, high average power laser systems. The benefits of Cr 4+ :YAG interlayers for the overall performance of an amplifier were illustrated with respect to energy storage capacity, heat generation and amplification of the seed pulses based on the theory of quasi-three-level Yb 3+ ions and Cr 4+ :YAG saturable absorption, the Monte Carlo and ray-tracing methods. For the amplifier with optimized Cr 4+ :YAG interlayers, it was found that the energy storage efficiency was increased from 39.12% to 47.38% in comparison with the amplifier without interlayers. The maximum output energy of 1119.53 J with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 28.91% in the amplifier with interlayers was obtained, while it reduced to 810.61 J with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 20.94% in the amplifier without interlayers. To our knowledge, this is the first quantitative characterization of the performance of a cryogenic gas cooled Yb:YAG multislab amplifier with Cr 4+ :YAG interlayers.