96 W, 4.8 mJ Yb:YAG rod-type picosecond laser amplifier using a thermally induced birefringence compensation method for extraction efficiency enhancement
Abstract
We demonstrate a cost-effective and compact chirped pulse amplification (CPA) picosecond laser system with high average power and pulse energy. Based on four Yb:YAG rods, the amplifier produces 5.1 mJ pulses at 102 W average power. The initial output beam quality M 2 factor was measured to be 1.33, which was further improved to 1.09 by spherical aberration compensation. The amplified pulses were compressed to a duration of 1 ps with an efficiency exceeding 93%. An improved dual-rod cascaded compensation method for thermally induced birefringence was implemented in the high-energy Yb:YAG amplifier, reducing the depolarization loss to 0.29% at 102 W output power while enhancing the extraction efficiency.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Solid State Laser Technologies
Photorefractive and Nonlinear Optics
Photonic Crystal and Fiber Optics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Applied Optics
- Publisher
- Optica Publishing Group
- Volume
- 65
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 4369–4369
- Publication date
- 1 April 2026
- Language
- EN