A. V. Pushkin, I. A. Slovinskii, F. V. Potemkin, “Megawatt-level repetitively pulsed erbium 3-<nobr>$\mu$</nobr>m laser with strong thermal lens compensation”, Pis'ma v Zh. Èksper. Teoret. Fiz., 2020, Volume 112, Issue 8,Pages <nobr>508

This article is cited in 8 papers

OPTICS AND NUCLEAR PHYSICS

Megawatt-level repetitively pulsed erbium 3-$\mu$m laser with strong thermal lens compensation

A. V. Pushkin^ab, I. A. Slovinskii^ba, F. V. Potemkin^ab

^a International Laser Center, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia
^b Faculty of Physics, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia

Abstract: We report on an increase in the average power of a repetitively pulsed (10 Hz) nanosecond 3-$\mu$m laser due to the compensation of a strong thermal lens in the Cr:Er:YSGG laser cavity maintaining the megawatt-level peak power. Thermally-induced beam distortions are measured in a set of 3-$\mu$m erbium crystals (Er:YAG, Er:YSGG, Cr:Er:YSGG), a scheme for compensating a thermal lens in a Cr:Er:YSGG Q-switched laser with a pulse energy of 23 mJ at a repetition rate of 10 Hz in with low-order transverse mode beam is proposed and experimentally implemented. The developed approach makes it possible to control the cavity mode in high-power nanosecond 3-$\mu$m lasers with flashlamp or diode pumping, which are used for a variety of scientific and technological applications, including pumping laser crystals in the middle infrared range, as well as laser-induced microstructuring and tissue engineering.

Received: 19.09.2020
Revised: 21.09.2020
Accepted: 22.09.2020

DOI: 10.31857/S1234567820200045