Abstract

The objective of this laser design is to efficiently extract energy from a low gain, glass zigzag slab in a single, near diffraction-limited laser pulse short enough to be efficiently frequency converted. This task is made difficult because the zigzag slab gain and optical quality are limited by thermally induced stresses resulting from repetitive pulse operation. Efficient extraction in these conditions can be achieved if the laser cavity losses are low to achieve a favorable gain/loss and if the propagation effects are controlled to uniformly illuminate the slab aperture.

© 1989 Optical Society of America