HIGH-POWER ND-YAG LASER END PUMPED BY A CW, 10 MM X-1 MU-M APERTURE, 10-W LASER-DIODE BAR

A Nd:YAG laser is end pumped with a 10-W laser-diode bar to produce 1.9 W of TEM00-mode power at 1.064-mu-m. The 10 mm X 1-mu-m bar is imaged into a 1.8 mm X 390-mu-m elliptical laser mode. Q-switched operation results in pulse energies of 160-mu-J at a 10-kHz repetition rate, which rises to 250-mu-J at 5 kHz. Frequency doubling in KTP produces 75-mu-J pulses at 10 kHz, corresponding to 750 mW of average power at 532 nm and a nonlinear conversion efficiency of 47%.