title: DiPOLE: a 10 J, 10 Hz cryogenic gas cooled multi-slab nanosecond Yb:YAG laser.
abstract: The Diode Pumped Optical Laser for Experiments (DiPOLE) project at the Central Laser Facility aims to develop a scalable, efficient high pulse energy diode pumped laser amplifier system based on cryogenic gas cooled, multi-slab ceramic Yb:YAG technology. We present recent results obtained from a scaled down prototype laser system designed for operation at 10 Hz pulse repetition rate. At 140 K, the system generated 10.8 J of energy in a 10 ns pulse at 1029.5 nm when pumped by 48 J of diode energy at 940 nm, corresponding to an optical to optical conversion efficiency of 22.5%. To our knowledge, this represents the highest pulse energy obtained from a cryo cooled Yb laser to date and the highest efficiency achieved by a multi-Joule diode pumped solid state laser system. Additionally, we demonstrated shot-to-shot energy stability of 0.85% rms for the system operated at 7 J, 10 Hz during several runs lasting up to 6 hours, with more than 50 hours in total. We also demonstrated pulse shaping capability and report on beam, wavefront and focal spot quality.
authors.forename: Saumyabrata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ertel
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: P Jonathan
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Mariastefania
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Vido
authors.forename: Jodie M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Butcher
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Gomez
authors.forename: R Justin S
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Greenhalgh
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Collier