HIGH-POWER HIGH-REPETITION-RATE DIODE SIDE-PUMPED Q-SWITCHED ND-YAG ROD LASER

A Q-switched diode side-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser is presented. The desi gn is based on close coupled diodes which are mounted side by side to a laser rod cut at Brewster angle. No intra-cavity optics are needed t o compensate for the induced thermal lensing of the rod. This laser pr oduces 10 W' average power with 30 ns pulse width and beam quality of 1.3 times diffraction limited at 10 kHz repetition rate. The light to light conversion efficiency is 12%. The same average power and beam qu ality is kept while operating the laser at repetition rates up to 50 k Hz. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.