Thesis

Assessing the barriers to lower complexity amplifiers for 1064nm picosecond lasers

Creator
Rights statement
Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2021
Thesis identifier
  • T16313
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 201155685
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • Ultrafast pulsed lasers are a key industrial tool for precision machining and there is a requirement to reach higher average powers of 100 W and beyond. This thesis explores the design considerations of low complexity, picosecond, thin-disk, Nd:YVO4 amplifiers at a seed wavelength of 1064 nm to reach this goal of 100 W with excellent beam quality. Through modelling and experiment, the barriers and challenges of this amplifier architecture were explored and developed. The critical role of temperature and its deleterious effects on amplifier performance were examined in great detail and modelled, as were the effects of energy transfer up-conversion. These effects were incorporated into the amplifier model and allowed an estimation of the number of passes of the seed beam required to reach an output of 100 W for various amplifier parameters. The role of Nd:YVO4 as a gain material for amplifying picosecond pulses generated by a microchip Q-switched laser was also explored. The performance of three amplifier stages were examined and modelled, showing that doping concentration is a key choice when designing amplifiers in this power regime.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Kemp, Alan
Resource Type
DOI

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