Keywords
laser; amplifier; coherent combining
Abstract
In this thesis, CBC of ultrashort laser pulses is investigated based upon the method known as divided-pulse amplification (DPA). Active, passive and hybrid DPA have been achieved in a flashlamp-pumped Nd:YAG laser seeded from a Ti:sapphire mode-locked laser. Picosecond pulses at a repetition rate of 2.5 Hz were amplified and combined to record energy of 216 mJ with a combination efficiency of 80%. Engineering of the Nd:YAG amplifier chain for high-efficiency energy extraction is presented. In addition, phasing of actively divided pulses with a CW pilot laser co-propagating with the pulsed beam is also demonstrated. Analysis of multiple DPA configurations shows the viability of the method for a variety of different laser architectures including discussion of design restrictions.
Date Created
April 2016
STARS Citation
Azim, Ahmad, "Coherent Beam Combining of Ultrashort Laser Pulses.pdf" (2016). EGS Content. 57.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/egs_content/57
https://works.bepress.com/ahmad-azim/3/download/