Scalable design for a high energy cryogenic gas cooled diode pumped laser amplifier

• DOI: 10.1364/ao.54.004227
• Publication Date: 2015-04-29T20:37:24Z
• Authors: P. D. Mason; M. Fitton; A. Lintern; S. Banerjee; K. Ertel; T. Davenne; J. Hill; S. P. Blake; P. J. Phillips; T. J. Butcher; J. M. Smith; M. De Vido; R. J. S. Greenhalgh; C. Hernandez-Gomez; J. L. Collier
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 7. Clean energy; 01 natural sciences

In this paper we present details of a scalable design for cryogenic helium gas cooled DPSSL amplifier based on multislab Yb:YAG geometry. A prototype capable efficient amplification 10 ns pulses to J at Hz is presented, which has been derived from computational fluid dynamic calculations and thermal modeling. Model predictions have also used suitable cooling system, are presented. Experimental testing confirmed stable temperatures achievable room temperature down 88 K, with coolant stability ±0.2 K. Single-pass transmission wave front measurements in reasonable agreement model maps two different YAG slab geometries. Slabs narrower width Cr-doped absorptive cladding, added suppress ASE, demonstrated error ∼0.2 waves 1030 nm (peak-to-valley) over the 20 mm×20 mm pumped region within amplifier. The low level optical distortion confirms that provides an acceptable flow uniformity demonstrates merit