Pump Module for High Average Power Diode-Pumped Solid-State Lasers

The objective of this DURIP-99 University Research Instrumentation Program, F49620-99-1-0200 was to acquire laser diode pump modules to enable research on high average power, scalable DPSS lasers, nonlinear optical materials, and the continued education of Ph.D.students in this field. Twelve 940 nm fiber-coupled 55 W laser diode units were purchased, along with six power supplies and a controller. This system is currently in use to pump a zigzag slab laser using YbYAG as the active medium. Numerical modeling predicts that YbYAG slab lasers can be scaled to the 100kW level. Twenty-four 808 nm fiber-coupled 30 W laser diode units were purchased, along with four power supplies, four temperature controller units and a controller. This system has been used to demonstrate phased array output from a zigzag NdYAG slab laser. This advance opens the engineering path toward scaling slab lasers to 100kW power levels.