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Liquid nitrogen (LN2) behavior on the surface of excited Yb(3+):YAG is investigated using fluorometry. From the time-resolved temperature variations and integrated fluorescence spectra intensity on this directly cooled Yb(3+):YAG surface, we observe a phase transition of LN2 from nucleate boiling to film boiling. As a result of this pool boiling, good beam quality should occur when the temperature and heat flux at an excited surface of Yb(3+):YAG are below 95 K and 15.8 W/cm2, respectively. That is, the LN2 should remain in a steady state of nucleate boiling to produce good beam quality using pool boiling.

We have studied the amplification characteristics of a cryogenically cooled Yb³⁺:YAG total-reflection active-mirror (TRAM) ceramic laser including wavefront distortion, birefringence loss, small signal gain (SSG), and temperature rise for developing high-performance master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) systems. A 0.6 mm thick Yb³⁺:YAG ceramic sample was used, and maximum pump intensity ~10 kW/cm² was reached. The transmitted wavefront was measured by using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, and we evaluated the thermal lens focal length and Strehl ratio for different pump conditions. We have also observed a butterfly-like leakage profile of thermally induced birefringence loss at the maximum pump intensity. From SSG measurements, we obtained moderate laser gain of G=3 for one bounce with a near aberration-free wavefront. Gain calculations, which included also temperature dependence of the emission cross section and reabsorption of Yb³⁺:YAG, were in good agreement with the experiments. These experimental results will be useful as benchmark data for numerical simulations of temperature distribution in TRAM and for designing multikilowatt-class high-performance MOPA systems.

We analyzed the output power characteristics of a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG total-reflection active-mirror (TRAM) laser oscillator including the temperature dependence of the emission cross section and the reabsorption loss of the Yb:YAG TRAM. A CW multi-transverse mode oscillation of a 9.8 at.% doped 0.6 mm thick Yb:YAG ceramic TRAM was investigated for various pump spot sizes and compared with theoretical results. The Yb:YAG temperatures were inferred from the ratio between fluorescence intensities at 1022 nm and 1027 nm which varied significantly with temperature below 200 K. Output power calculations using evaluated temperatures were in good agreement with the experimental data measured between 77 and 200 K, and the output power suppression due to the temperature rise observed above ~140 K. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of output power for a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG TRAM laser.

We report on a novel amplifier configuration concept for a 10 kW laser system using a zig-zag optical path based on a cryogenic Yb:YAG Total-Reflection Active-Mirror (TRAM) laser. The laser material is a compact composite ceramic, in which three Yb:YAG TRAMs are combined in series to increase the output power. Output powers of up to 214 W with a slope efficiency of 63% have been demonstrated for CW operation, even at a quite low pump intensity of less than 170 W/cm2. Further scaling could achieve output powers of more than 10 kW.

We report a high-average-power and high-pulse-energy diode-pumped Nd:glass laser amplifier system consisting of two thermally-edge-controlled zigzag slab amplifiers and a stimulated Brillouin scattering mirror. This phase-conjugated system produces an average power of 213 W at 10 Hz in a 8.9 ns pulse (2.4 GW peak power) with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 11.7% and a near-diffraction-limited beam. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest performance from a Nd:glass-based laser amplifier system ever built.

The amplified optical parametric fluorescence (AOPF) from optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) was controlled by injecting a residual fundamental pulse of the seeded Q-switch Nd:YAG pumping laser as a quenching beam. The output pulse from the OPCPA was used as a seed pulse for Ti:sapphire chirped-pulse amplifier (CPA) system to generate up to 10 TW peak power with a high-contrast ratio. This intense laser pulse was focused on the supersonic Ar gas jet. High-energy electrons up to 30 MeV were observed.

High-resolution laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy has been applied to investigate the hyperfine structure constants and isotope shifts of high-lying even-parity levels of zirconium in the energy range 34 000–37 000 cm-1. By analysis of the measured spectra, the hyperfine-structure constants of seven levels and isotope shifts of eight transitions are determined.