High power, long pulse duration, single-frequency Nd : YVO4 master-oscillator power-amplifier

Abstract

An efficient single-frequency Nd:YVO4 master-oscillator power-amplifier is described. Gated pulses from a CW diode-pumped ring laser were amplified by three Nd:YVO4 amplifiers. Pulses of 1mJ energy; 2 kW peak power and 1 mu s duration were obtained at a repetition frequency of 10 kHz. Analogue shaping of the input pulses was used to control the output pulse shape and thus extend the useful range of pulse widths from the similar to 100 ns to the similar to mu s regime. A simple mathematical expression was used to model the results which provided reasonable agreement with the experimental work. This system offers a promising pump source for a quasi-CW singly-resonant optical parametric oscillators. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.