A cryo-cooled high-energy DPSSL system delivering ns-pulses at 10 J and 10 Hz

Klaus Ertel; Saumyabrata Banerjee; Thomas J. Butcher; Mariastefania De Vido; Paul D. Mason; P. Jonathan Phillips; David Richards; Waseem Shaikh; Jodie M. Smith; Justin Greenhalgh; Cristina Hernandez-Gomez; John L. Collier

doi:10.1117/12.2077992

20 February 2015 A cryo-cooled high-energy DPSSL system delivering ns-pulses at 10 J and 10 Hz

Klaus Ertel, Saumyabrata Banerjee, Thomas J. Butcher, Mariastefania De Vido, Paul D. Mason, P. Jonathan Phillips, David Richards, Waseem Shaikh, Jodie M. Smith, Justin Greenhalgh, Cristina Hernandez-Gomez, John L. Collier

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9342, Solid State Lasers XXIV: Technology and Devices; 93421L (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2077992
Event: SPIE LASE, 2015, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Lasers generating multi-J to kJ ns-pulses are required for many types of laser-plasma interactions. Such lasers are either used directly for compressing matter to extreme densities or they serve as pump lasers for short-pulses laser chains based on large-aperture Ti:sapphire or parametric amplifiers. The thus generated high-energy fs-pulses are most useful for laser driven secondary sources of particles (electrons, protons) or photons (from THz to gamma). While proof-of-principle experiments have been carried out with flashlamp-pumped glass lasers, lasers with much higher efficiency and repetition rate are required to make this applications practically viable. We have developed a scalable new laser concept called DiPOLE (diode pumped optical laser for experiments) based on a gas-cooled ceramic Yb:YAG multi-slab architecture operating at cryogenic temperatures. While the viability of this concept has been shown earlier [1], we have now reached our target performance of 10 J pulse energy at 10 Hz repetition rate at an optical-to-optical efficiency of 21%. To the best of our knowledge, these are record values for average power and efficiency for lasers of this type. We have also upgraded the system by adding a fibre-based front-end system with arbitrary pulse shaping capability and by installing an image-relayed multipass system enabling up to eight passes of the main amplifier. We have then used this system to demonstrate frequency doubling with 65 % conversion efficiency and a long-term shot-to-shot stability of 0.5% rms over a total of nearly 2 million shots, achieved in runs extending over 4 to 6 hours.

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Klaus Ertel, Saumyabrata Banerjee, Thomas J. Butcher, Mariastefania De Vido, Paul D. Mason, P. Jonathan Phillips, David Richards, Waseem Shaikh, Jodie M. Smith, Justin Greenhalgh, Cristina Hernandez-Gomez, and John L. Collier "A cryo-cooled high-energy DPSSL system delivering ns-pulses at 10 J and 10 Hz", Proc. SPIE 9342, Solid State Lasers XXIV: Technology and Devices, 93421L (20 February 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2077992

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