Abstract

We recently reported the generation of 100-ps, 1.06-μm pulses with ~60-mJ energy from a simple 10-Hz regenerative Nd:YAG amplifier configured as a self-filtering unstable resonator.¹ This permitted synchronous amplification of picosecond and subpicosecond pulses from a cw mode-locked dye laser to energies of ~1 mJ. The noncollinear longitudinal pumping geometry of the dye amplifier used allows operation over a wide wavelength range but results in a spatial beam quality directly dependent on that of the pump radiation from the regenerative amplifier.

© 1988 Optical Society of America