FIVEFOLD INCREASE IN SOLAR LASER OUTPUT WITH A NONIMAGING CONCENTRATOR

A nonimaging concentrator (compound parabolic concentrator) has been e mployed to boost the output of a solar-pumped Nd:YAG laser crystal fro m 2 W to 10 W. Since the nonimaging concentrator increased the solar p ower delivered to the laser, the reflectivity of the output coupler co uld be lowered from 95% to 90%. With the 90% output coupler in place, there was an additional increase in laser power, to 14 W.