Corner-pumped Yb: Yttrium aluminum garnet slab laser emitted up to 1 kW

Abstract

We have developed a slab laser design based on conduction cooling and a novel pumping geometry called corner pumping. The design uses a slab crystal configuration with the pump light incident from the slab corners. A maximum output power of over 1 kW was achieved from a 1 mm thick Yb:YAG/YAG (YAG=yttrium aluminum garnet) structure with a 0.5 at. % -doped Yb:YAG. The slope efficiency and optical-to-optical efficiency with respect to the total pump power were 42.8% and 33.6%, respectively. At this pump power the electrical-to-optical conversion efficiency of the system was 16.8%. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.