title: Preserving a diffraction-limited beam in Ho:YAG laser using coherent polarization locking.
abstract: We overcome several thermal issues present in Ho:YAG lasers by distributing the gain over a larger volume and achieve a diffraction-limited beam using coherent polarization locking. Increased single-pass absorption, suppression of output power saturation, and improvement in beam quality were shown using the coherent polarization locking technique as compared to a conventional Ho:YAG laser cavity with the same pump and cavity configuration. Ten watts of CW Ho:YAG laser power was generated with >96% coherent combining efficiency.
authors.affiliation: DSO National Laboratories, 20 Science Park Drive, Singapore 118230, Singapore.
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Phua