Indirectly LED-pumped Nd:glass: potential for high energy laser facilities

Maxime Nourry-Martin; Nicolas Fermon; Catherine L. Le Blanc; Loïc Meignien; Patrick Audebert; Frédéric Druon; Patrick Georges; François Balembois

doi:10.1364/OPTICA.533492

Indirectly LED-pumped Nd:glass: potential for high energy laser facilities

Maxime Nourry-Martin
, Nicolas Fermon
, Catherine L. Le Blanc
, Loïc Meignien
, Patrick Audebert
, Frédéric Druon
, Patrick Georges
, François Balembois

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Flashlamp-pumped Nd:glass is used as a power amplifier in many high energy laser facilities. Despite the problems of this old technology, flashlamps are still being considered for the next generation of lasers as diode laser pumping is far from being ready. This work presents an alternative for pumping high energy lasers: LEDs combined with luminescence concentrators. Using a pump head consisting of a green-yellow Ce:LuAG luminescent concentrator pumped by 2240 LEDs, we demonstrate a Nd:glass laser oscillator producing 25 mJ at 1053 nm for an absorbed pump energy of 138 mJ. The small signal gain reaches 1.25 in a single pass despite the short length of the Nd:glass rod (20 mm). These results reveal the potential of indirect LED pumping for Nd:glass amplifiers in high energy lasers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	311-314
Number of pages	4
Journal	Optica
Volume	12
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.533492
Publication status	Published - 20 Mar 2025

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title = "Indirectly LED-pumped Nd:glass: potential for high energy laser facilities",

abstract = "Flashlamp-pumped Nd:glass is used as a power amplifier in many high energy laser facilities. Despite the problems of this old technology, flashlamps are still being considered for the next generation of lasers as diode laser pumping is far from being ready. This work presents an alternative for pumping high energy lasers: LEDs combined with luminescence concentrators. Using a pump head consisting of a green-yellow Ce:LuAG luminescent concentrator pumped by 2240 LEDs, we demonstrate a Nd:glass laser oscillator producing 25 mJ at 1053 nm for an absorbed pump energy of 138 mJ. The small signal gain reaches 1.25 in a single pass despite the short length of the Nd:glass rod (20 mm). These results reveal the potential of indirect LED pumping for Nd:glass amplifiers in high energy lasers.",

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T2 - potential for high energy laser facilities

AU - Nourry-Martin, Maxime

AU - Fermon, Nicolas

AU - Le Blanc, Catherine L.

AU - Meignien, Loïc

AU - Audebert, Patrick

AU - Druon, Frédéric

AU - Georges, Patrick

AU - Balembois, François

PY - 2025/3/20

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N2 - Flashlamp-pumped Nd:glass is used as a power amplifier in many high energy laser facilities. Despite the problems of this old technology, flashlamps are still being considered for the next generation of lasers as diode laser pumping is far from being ready. This work presents an alternative for pumping high energy lasers: LEDs combined with luminescence concentrators. Using a pump head consisting of a green-yellow Ce:LuAG luminescent concentrator pumped by 2240 LEDs, we demonstrate a Nd:glass laser oscillator producing 25 mJ at 1053 nm for an absorbed pump energy of 138 mJ. The small signal gain reaches 1.25 in a single pass despite the short length of the Nd:glass rod (20 mm). These results reveal the potential of indirect LED pumping for Nd:glass amplifiers in high energy lasers.

AB - Flashlamp-pumped Nd:glass is used as a power amplifier in many high energy laser facilities. Despite the problems of this old technology, flashlamps are still being considered for the next generation of lasers as diode laser pumping is far from being ready. This work presents an alternative for pumping high energy lasers: LEDs combined with luminescence concentrators. Using a pump head consisting of a green-yellow Ce:LuAG luminescent concentrator pumped by 2240 LEDs, we demonstrate a Nd:glass laser oscillator producing 25 mJ at 1053 nm for an absorbed pump energy of 138 mJ. The small signal gain reaches 1.25 in a single pass despite the short length of the Nd:glass rod (20 mm). These results reveal the potential of indirect LED pumping for Nd:glass amplifiers in high energy lasers.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105000980431

U2 - 10.1364/OPTICA.533492

DO - 10.1364/OPTICA.533492

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JO - Optica

JF - Optica

IS - 3

ER -

Indirectly LED-pumped Nd:glass: potential for high energy laser facilities

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