High average power solid-state lasers on dynamic gratings

Self-starting laser with cavity completed by dynamic holographic gratings induced in the laser crystal by optical waves has recently demonstrated the capability of generating beams with more than two-hundred-Watt average power and a good quality. An important advantage of these lasers is the adaptive property of their cavity provided by the nonlinear dynamic mirror, which is a self-pumped phase-conjugate mirror. In this report we present new results of the investigation of the self-starting lasers and the optimization of their architecture for generation of high average power beams with good quality. The laser systems based on flash-lamp pumped Nd:YAG rods of the large size (O 12 mm /spl times/ 135 mm ) with the cavity completed by the population gratings inside the laser rod were studied and optimized. The imaging transfer technique and the polarization rotation allow for better compensation of the distortions and improve quality of the generated beam with average power up to 250-300 W. The self-starting lasers based on diode-pumped Nd:YAG crystals and grating-formed cavity were also investigated. The self-starting oscillations were achieved. The spatio-temporal characteristics of the generated beams were studied.