High average power six-rod series connection pulsed Nd:YAG laser

A six-rod series connection pulsed Nd:YAG laser was presented. 44 matrices were used to theoretically analyze the deviation of optical axis affected by the offset angle of Nd:YAG rods in the resonator, and the tolerance of the offset angle is given. A plane-plane symmetrical resonator has been used in the experiment, and through adjusting the offset angle of all rods within the tolerance, the six-rod series connection pulsed Nd:YAG laser was achieved. With an input electric power of 86 kW and a duty cycle of 17%, an output laser with an average power of 3 018 W, a peak power of 17.75 kW, the maximum single pulse energy of 66 J and a beam parameters product of 26.3 mmmrad was obtained. The electro-optical conversion efficiency was 3.5%, and the instability of the laser was less than 2%.