title: High sustained average power cw and ultrafast Yb:YAG near-diffraction-limited cryogenic solid-state laser.
abstract: We report what we believe to be record performance for a high average power Yb:YAG cryogenic laser system with sustained output power. In a CW oscillator-single-pass amplifier configuration, 963 W of output power was measured. In a second configuration, a two amplifier Yb:YAG cryogenic system was driven with a fiber laser picosecond ultrafast oscillator at a 50 MHz repetition rate, double-passed through the first amplifier and single-passed through the second, resulting in 758 W of average power output. Pulses exiting the system have a FWHM pulsewidth of 12.4 ps, an energy/pulse of 15.2 μJ, and a peak power of 1.23 MW. Both systems are force convection-cooled with liquid nitrogen and have been demonstrated to run reliably over long time periods.
authors.affiliation: Snake Creek Lasers, LLC, Hallstead, Pennsylvania 18822, USA. dbrown@snakecreeklasers.com
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Singley
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kowalewski
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guelzow
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vitali