Disk laser

Not to be confused with LaserDisc, the large disk-shaped optical storage medium, or, fiber laser disks, disk-shaped coils of fiber laser.
Fig.1. An optically pumped disk laser (active mirror).

A disk laser or active mirror (Fig.1) is a type of diode pumped solid-state laser characterized by a heat sink and laser output that are realized on opposite sides of a thin layer of active gain medium.[1] Despite their name, disk lasers do not have to be circular; other shapes have also been tried. The thickness of the disk is considerably smaller than the laser beam diameter. Initially, this laser cavity configuration had been proposed[2] and realized experimentally for thin slice semiconductor lasers.[3]

The disk laser concepts allow very high average and peak powers[4] due to its large area, leading to moderate power densities on the active material.

  1. ^ "Thin disk lasers". Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology.
  2. ^ Basov, N G; Bogdankevich, OV; Grasiuk, AZ (1966). "Semiconductor lasers with radiating mirrors". IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. 2 (4): 9 B4. Bibcode:1966IJQE....2Q.154B. doi:10.1109/JQE.1966.1073948.
  3. ^ Bogdankevich, OV; Darznek, SA; Pechenov, A N; Vasiliev, BI; Zverev, MM (1973). "Semiconductor lasers with radiating mirrors". IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. 9 (2): 342–347. doi:10.1109/JQE.1973.1077470.
  4. ^ "New Thin-Disk Laser Record: 1.1 kW, 1.4 mJ / 7 ps, 800 kHz, M2 < 1.25". Institut für Strahlwerkzeuge - University of Stuttgart. Archived from the original on 2018-04-21.