High power Er:YAG laser with radially-polarized Laguerre-Gaussian (LG(01)) mode output

Abstract

A simple method for conditioning the pump beam in an end-pumped solid-state laser to allow direct excitation of the first order Laguerre-Gaussian doughnut (LG(01)) mode is reported. This approach has been applied to a hybrid (fiber-laser-pumped) Er: YAG laser yielding 13.1 W of continuous-wave output at 1645 nm in a radially-polarized LG(01) doughnut beam with beam propagation factor (M-2) < 2.4 for 34 W of incident pump power at 1532 nm. The corresponding slope efficiency with respect to incident pump power was 48%. The prospects of further power scaling and improved laser performance are discussed. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America