A Simple Approach for Enhancing the Output Performance of Solar‐Pumped Solid‐State Lasers

Abstract

A simple truncated fused silica elliptical cavity is proposed to enhance the output performance of solar‐pumped solid‐state lasers. The imaging property of the truncated elliptical cavity ensures an enhanced absorption distribution within an Nd:YAG rod. Optimum pumping parameters are found through ZEMAX nonsequential ray‐tracing and LASCAD laser cavity analyses. Compared with the output laser performance of a 3D‐compound parabolic concentrator‐2D‐compound parabolic concentrator (3D‐CPC‐2D‐CPC) cavity, the truncated cavity provides 11% more multimode and 72.7% more TEM 00 laser powers. A laser beam of high beam quality can be produced efficiently. The standard tracking error for multimode laser power is also reduced to only 4.0% by the truncated cavity.