Compact 20-pass thin-disk amplifier insensitive to thermal lensing

We present a multi-pass amplifier which passively compensates for distortions of the spherical phase front occurring in the active medium. The design is based on the Fourier transform propagation which makes the output beam parameters insensitive to variation of thermal lens effects in the active medium. The realized system allows for 20 reflections on the active medium and delivers a small signal gain of 30 with M$^2$ = 1.16. Its novel geometry combining Fourier transform propagations with 4f-imaging stages as well as a compact array of adjustable mirrors allows for a layout with a footprint of 400 mm x 1000 mm.
7 pages, 6 figures