《Compact 2-Joule master oscillator》.pdf

Compact 2-Joule master oscillator, power amplifier (MOPA) laser system Gregg L. More11i*, John Honig aHoneywell Federal Manufacturing Technologies, P.O. Box 419159, Kansas City MO, 64141-6159 bLarence Livermore National Laboratories, L-477, P.O. Box 808, Livermore CA, 94551-0808 ABSTRACT A compact, 2-J Master Oscillator, Power Amplifier (MOPA) laser system was designed and built to support a multiple-fiber injection experiment. The system was built in a breadboard configuration to support a risk-reduction/proof-of-concept effort. A common design approach for MOPA systems is to utilize a single-mode oscillator as the input source to the amplifier. However, to optimize this system for fiber injection, a multi-mode oscillator was chosen. A stable, multi-mode, 1053-nm, Nd:YLF laser oscillator was designed and built. A piano/concave resonator was utilized, with a 4.0-mm diameter Nd:YLF laser rod, pumped in a dual flashlamp, diffuse, close-coupled pump cavity. A lithium niobate (LiNbO3) Q-switch crystal was used in a quarter-wave scheme. This pump cavity design did not use any active cooling and was ideal for low duty cycle applications requiring no more than one shot every 60 seconds. The oscillator output was amplified using a neodymium- doped phosphate glass laser rod in a four-pass configuration. Two Joules of output energy with an output pulsewidth of 1 2 ns were obtained. The 9.53-mm diameter Nd:Glass amplifier rod was pumped in a dual flashlamp, diffuse, close-coupled pump cavity. Output energy, pulsewidth, far-field beam divergence and intensity profile results will be presented for a Schott LG750 amplifier rod. Keywords: Nd:YLF, laser glass, multi-mode, oscillator, MOPA 1. INTRODUCTION