Modeling and Measurement of Thermal Effect in a Flashlamp-Pumped Direct-Liquid-Cooled Split-Disk Nd:LuAG Ceramic Laser Amplifier

Abstract

In this paper, a model to predict the thermal effects in a flashlamp-pumped direct-liquid-cooled split-disk Nd:LuAG ceramic laser amplifier has been presented. In addition to pumping distribution, the model calculates thermal-induced wavefront aberration as a function of temperature, thermal stress and thermal deformation in the gain medium. Experimental measurements are carried out to assess the accuracy of the model. We expect that this study will assist in the design and optimization of high-energy lasers operated at repetition rate.