High average power pulsed lasers

The last decade has been marked by significant progress in lasers with high average and high peak power, thanks to the rapid development of diode pumping. The main problems encountered in the development of such lasers are associated with the destruction of their active elements caused by strong heat load and optical breakdown, deterioration of laser beam quality due to thermally induced distortions and depolarization, and reduced pump efficiency resulting from amplified spontaneous emission and parasitic oscillations. The research carried out at IAP RAS is aimed at developing methods for suppressing parasitic effects and creating lasers with high average and peak power in the visible, near- and mid-infrared regions. Notable progress has been also made in the development of some critically important elements of high-power laser systems.

• Cryogenic disk Yb:YAG laser
• Picosecond lasers with SRS and SBS pulse compression in the visible and near-IR regions
• High-power efficient and compact near- and mid-IR solid-state lasers with nonlinear optical frequency conversion
• Multi-channel solid-state laser systems with coherent combining of laser beams
• Elements for high average power lasers