Cesium vapor laser with transverse pumping by multiple laser diode arrays .pdf.docVIP

HOptics Communications 281 2008 5862–5863 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Optics Communications j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s ev i e r . c o m / l o ca t e / o p t c o m Cesium vapor laser with transverse pumping by multiple laser diode arrays B.V. Zhdanov *, M.K. Shaffer, J. Sell, R.J. Knize US Air Force Academy, Laser and Optics Research Center, 2354 Fairchild Dr., Suite 2A31, USAF Academy, CO 80840, USA a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 22 July 2008 Received in revised form 28 August 2008 Accepted 29 August 2008 PACS: 42.55.Lt 42.70.Hj Keywords: Alkali lasers Optically pumped lasers  a b s t r a c t We have demonstrated a Cs vapor laser that utilizes fifteen laser diode arrays for transverse pumping of the gain medium. A maximum output power of 28 W was achieved with a total optical to optical efficiency of 14% and a slope efficiency of 15%. Transverse pumping allows scaling of such a laser system to a higher power level by simple increasing of the gain medium volume and the number of pump sources. 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Diode pumped alkali lasers, developed during the last several years [1–5], have demonstrated high output power and high effi-ciency in both pulsed and continuous wave CW operation. A laser diode array LDA pumped cesium laser [3] was demonstrated with a slope efficiency of 68%, an overall optical efficiency of 62%, and an output power of 10 W in CW operation. In our later experiments on scaling of alkali laser systems we used two LDAs for longitudinal pumping of a Rb laser [5], and four LDAs for longitudinal pumping of a Cs laser [6]. In these two experiments, we obtained 17 W and 20 W, respectively, for CW operation and up to 48 W in pulsed operation. Scaling of alkali lasers to higher powers requires com-bining beams of multiple diode laser sources. For longitudinal pumping this can be very complicated if more than four beams are to be combined. In this letter, we p