Journal Pre-proof

Beam quality improvement in an end-pumped Nd:YAG slab amplifier by

the increase of the super-Gaussian order of laser diode beam profile

Mohammad Mahdi Majidof, Hamid Latifi, Ehsan Tanhaee, Seyed

Hassan Nabavi

PII: S0030-4018(19)30720-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2019.124388
Reference: OPTICS 124388

To appear in: Optics Communications

Received date : 3 June 2019

Revised date : 22 July 2019
Accepted date : 13 August 2019

Please cite this article as: M.M. Majidof, H. Latifi, E. Tanhaee et al., Beam quality improvement in
an end-pumped Nd:YAG slab amplifier by the increase of the super-Gaussian order of laser diode
beam profile, Optics Communications (2019), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2019.124388.

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Highlights Journal Pre-proof

Highlights

 correlation the slab amplifier beam quality (BQ) with laser diode optical features
 relation super-Gaussians order of laser diode (LD) profile with OPD distribution
 detection of optical path difference distribution with a polarized probe beam
 correlation OPD distribution with the beam quality of Nd:YAG slab amplifier
 predicting the optical properties of the LDs for a higher BQ in the slab amplifier

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Click here to view linked References

1
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5 Beam quality improvement in an end-pumped Nd:YAG slab amplifier by the
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increase of the super-Gaussian order of laser diode beam profile
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10 Mohammad Mahdi Majidof1, Hamid Latifi2, +, Ehsan Tanhaee3, Seyed Hassan Nabavi4
11 1- Physics Department of Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, P. O. Box: 1983969411.
12
2- Laser and Plasma Research Institute and Physics Department of Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, P. O. Box: 1983969411.

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14 3- Physics Department of Tehran University, Nanophysics Institute, Tehran, Iran, P. O. Box: 14395/547.
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16 4- Physics Department Nanolab, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran, P.O. Box: 14115-111.
17 + latifi@sbu.ac.ir

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19 Abstract
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21 This work focuses on a new estimation to pave the way for an easier optical design of a slab amplifier according to
22 optical path difference (OPD) distribution via laser diode (LD) as a pump source. In general, the output of LD consists
23 of super-Gaussian beams with order 1 in the fast axis and order 3 in the slow axis. The thermal lens (TL) effect is the
24 most important challenge in the optical design of the slab amplifier chain for transferring light from one single-module
25 slab to the next. The formed TL in the slab volume is compensated via the zigzag path of the seed laser in the slab
thickness direction. Aforementioned, to improve the output beam quality (BQ) of the slab amplifier, TL effect must be
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covered by using external optical elements in the slab width direction. In the present paper, the OPD spatial distribution
of LD pumped Nd:YAG slab (0.6% Nd3+ dopant) is estimated by using math functions that can be matched. It follows
28 both aspheric and super-Gaussian functions in the slab width direction. Our results show that the super-Gaussian
29 estimation could portray a better understanding of OPD changes and create the conditions for optimizing the slab
30 amplifier output BQ which relates to the super-Gaussian parameter of LD beam in the slow axis. Experimental
31 measurement of TL-diopter in the slab thickness direction proves our simulation results.
32
Keywords: Aspheric function, Nd:YAG slab, Optical path difference, Super-Gaussian function, Thermal
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34 analyses
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36 1- Introduction
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38 The solid state laser is widely used in industrial, medical, and material processing applications [1, 2].
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39 Developing a laser with a high output power and a better beam quality is ongoing with the main
40 challenge of controlling the TL effect [3-6]. Beam quality distortion and OPD distribution in solid
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state lasers during high power pumping depend on heat generation due to quantum defect [7, 8], TL,
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43 refractive index change [4-6, 9, 10], up-conversion effect [11, 12], crystal field & vibration of crystal
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44 matrix [13], and depolarization loss [14, 15]. The zigzag trajectory of the laser beam in end-pumped
45 zigzag slabs (EPZSs) is one solution to minimized wavefront distortion caused by the created TL in
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47 EPZSs [1, 16, 17]. The slab active medium was introduced by Chernoch-Martin in 1969 [18]. Side,
48 edge, and end types of pumping with slab active medium have long been investigated. [19].
49 Wavefront distortion due to OPD distribution in laser beam trajectory and the created stress
50
birefringence in the pumped active medium are the main limitations of side- and edge-pumped slabs
51
[4-6, 9, 15, 20]. EPZSs have attracted a lot of attention because of their good beam quality in high
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53 pump power [1, 18] and recently, they have become a powerful competitor for disk and fiber lasers
54 [21]. Thermal wavefront distortion in EPZSs is due to two main reasons. First, non-uniform cooling
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56 from bigger surfaces of slab due to air bobbles trapped in the boundary between the slab and the
57 indium sheet which is a structural fault that can be modified by using silicon oil [1]. Second, OPD
58 variations created in the non-zigzag direction due to pump beam propagation in the LD slow axis.
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This problem is theoretically solved using acylindrical lens instead of cylindrical lens in LD slow axis
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1
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4 [16, 19]. However, designing optimized resonator and amplifier chain by using EPZSs depends on TL
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6 prediction in the non-zigzag direction [6]. In the current study, due to the temperature dependence of
7 refractive index (TDRI) and mechanical deformation (MD), TL is simulated using the thermal
8 analysis and ray tracing method in a one-end-pumped 0.6 % Nd:YAG flat slab in width and thickness
9
directions. The OPD caused by TL in Nd:YAG slab medium in the current work is estimated with
10
11 analogous math functions which show the same local changes as OPD variations in two directions.
12 By considering the results which can be obtained using these functions, the designs of the resonator

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13 and amplifier optical elements can be optimized.
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15 2- Design and experimental setup
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17 Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the gain module of a one-end-pumped Nd:YAG slab used in the

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18 experiment. This test system consists of an LD pump source, an optical system for delivering pump light,
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20 an Nd:YAG slab as the gain medium, and two cooling blocks (CBs). The active medium is a 0.6 % flat
21 Nd:YAG slab (made by Czochralski technique) with a cut angle of 90 degrees and the dimensions of 2
22 mm thickness, 20 mm width, and 100 mm length. The fast-axis collimated LD source with a wavelength
23 of 808 nm consists of 15 bars with 60 W output power per bar. The super-Gaussian orders of the output
24 beam profile of each bar are 1 in the fast axis and 3 in the slow axis. The divergence angles of LD beam
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26 in fast and slow axes are 1.5 and 7 degrees, respectively. The beam delivering system consists of one
27
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cylindrical lens in slow axis and two cylindrical lenses in fast axis to focus the pump light of LD within
28 the slab entrance.
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Figure 1: Experimental setup for recording slab end surface temperature and diopter measurement. L1, L2, L3 are cylindrical
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lens, and DM is a dichroic mirror.
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52 The slab is mounted between two water-cooled copper CBs with a heat transfer coefficient of 7 in
53 m2 K
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55 20 .C water temperature with 4 flow. The contact surface of CBs with the slab was polished to a
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57 roughness of less than 0.25 µm. For improving the thermal contact between CBs and the slab, 125 µm
58 indium sheets were used.
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4 A He-Ne laser beam was used as a polarized probe beam at x-direction to measure the focal length of
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TL while the slab medium was pumped from one end by LD. The He-Ne beam was expanded to fit the
7 slab end and guided at the perpendicular direction to the slab end surface (Figure 1) by a dichroic mirror
8 which includes a high reflection coat for 636 nm wavelength and a high transmission coat for 808 nm
9 wavelength at 45 degree.
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11 As is shown in Figure (1), a CCD camera was used to locate the focal point of TL in the slab thickness
direction and a thermal camera (accuracy:  2% of reading scale) was used to probe the temperature of
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14 slab end surface where the maximum temperature was located.
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16 3- OPD investigation technique
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TDRI and MD were considered as two contributing factors to the formed TL in the slab volume due to

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19 LD pumping. The effects of these factors with an elasto-optic effect on the formation of TL will be
20 examined in the width and thickness directions of the slab. The end-pumped slab gain module used in the
21 simulation was the same as the one used in the experimental setup (section 2). In this section, the
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23 technical steps for OPD estimation in Nd:YAG slab will be introduced. Analogous analytical math
24 functions were used to estimate the OPD variations in the slab on the basis of TL calculation and OPD
25 measurement due to TDIR and MD.
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In the simulation, Quantum defect (QD) due to 24 % of pump power absorption was considered as a
28 heat source in the Nd:YAG slab [9]. The stationary temperature distribution was calculated by using
29 thermal analysis with the following heat equation [22]:
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31 Q
32 .(T )   (1)
K (T )
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35 with the following boundary conditions on the slab surfaces:
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37  K .(T )  h(T  TFlow) (2)
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39 where T is the spatial temperature distribution, k is temperature-dependent thermal conductivity [9], TFlow
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is water coolant temperature, h is heat transfer coefficient on slab surfaces, and Q is the heat source per
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42 unit volume which is a function of position in the active medium. The numerical model was as a closed
43 loop with a stabilized temperature as an ending condition that its temperature error per mesh was
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45 0.0001.C . In this loop, the absorption of pump power in the Nd:YAG slab is investigated via ray tracing
46 and Monte-Carlo method with considering refractive index that depends on the temperature distribution
47 and its effect on the trajectory of pump ray in the slab active medium [23,24].
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49 To calculate the effect of TDRI and MD on OPD distribution, the slab volume is divided into I  J  K
50 cells that TDRI with an elasto-optic effect [14, 15, 25, 26] in each cell is given by
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52 dn
53 nij  n0  T   Bijkl kl (3)
54 dT kl
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56 in which nij is a second rank refractive index tensor, n0 is the refractive index of the 0.6% Nd:YAG
57
dn
58 slab at room temperature ( n0  1.8179 is calculated by Brewster angle method [27], is the
59 dT
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4 dnNd :YAG 1
5 temperature dependence of refractive index (  7.3  10  6 ) [9], Bijkl , and  kl are the
6 dT K
7 components of the fourth rank the elasto – optic tensor and the second rank stress tensor respectively that
8  kl is calculated by finite element method (FEM) via symmetrical mechanical boundary conditions [28].
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To verify the thermal expansion of each cell, equation 4 is used as follows:
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12 Lijk  L0 (1  e (Tijk  T0 )) (4)

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15 in which Lijk and L0 are the cell lengths in Tijk and room temperature respectively in the direction of He-
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17 Ne laser propagation along the slab length and  e is thermal expansion coefficient (  eNd :YAG  7.5  10 6
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18 ) [9].
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20 The OPL along the slab length can be calculated by using the ray tracing method with considering
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22 100 50 points on the slab end surfaces with 2mm 20mm area, (Figure 2 and equation 5)
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35 Figure 2: 100 50 points on the slab end surfaces is chosen to calculate OPL along the slab length
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OPLij   nijk Lijk  OPDij  n0 L0
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38 (5)
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41 in which nijk is calculated from equation 3 for each cell. The constant part of OPLij does not have any role
42 in the TL effect and by omitting it ( n0 L0 ), OPD distribution is obtained [16].
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As can be seen in section 4, the OPD variations in the slab width and thickness directions obey different
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46 math functions. Analogous math functions with the same position dependence as that of OPD variations
47 in each direction are used to predict the OPD variations. The circle function [29]:
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49 OPD ( x  0, y )  Rci2  y 2  OPDc  Rci (6)
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has been taken into account for the slab thickness direction. Also the aspheric function [30]:
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x2
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OPD ( x, y  0) 
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  ai x2i  OPDc (7)
x i 1
56 Rcu (1  1  (1  K ) 2
)
57 Rcu
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59 and the super-Gaussian function [31]:
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4 1 x
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6 OPD ( x, y  0)   (e 2 b  1)  OPDc (8)
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8 have been selected for the slab width direction.
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10 OPDc is a constant ( OPDc  12 m in 420 W pump power) which represents the OPD value in the x  0 and
11 y  0 locations. x  0 and y  0 are the center lines at the slab thickness and width directions,
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respectively. Rci is the radius of circle function fitted to data in x  0 , Rcu is the radius of curvature of the

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14 aspheric function in the center of y  0 line, ai is a coefficient on the ith extended polynomial term, and k
15 c
16 is a conic constant. In equation (6b), is the order of super-Gaussian function. The width of this function
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in full width half maximum (FWHM) is   2b(2 ln 2)1 c and α is a constant.

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20 SSE
21 ( Rsq  1  ) was used which is known as a coefficient of determination to compare the fitting
SST
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23 parameters. In this equation, SSE is the sum of squared error and SST is the sum of squared total. In this
24 paper, Rsq more than 0.99 is considered as a reasonable fit.
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26 4- Results and discussion
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28 In this section, the experimental and numerical results for the maximum temperature of the slab end
29 surface through which LD beam is injected are shown for different pump powers. The changes of OPD
30 for y  0 and x  0 lines are simulated in various LD pump powers and are pinpointed in 420 W pump
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32 power by considering TDRI,MD and elasto-optic effect to the TL formation. Also the experimental and
numerical results of TL diopter in the slab thickness direction are shown. Ultimately, the aspheric and
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34 super-Gaussian functions are practically compared to describe the OPD variations across the slab width
35 direction ( y  0 ).
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37 Figure 3 shows the experimental and numerical results for the maximum temperature of the slab end
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surface versus the different pump powers.
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Figure 3. The maximum temperature of slab end surface obtained via numerical simulation (□) and experimental measurement
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(○) with respect to different pump powers.
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4 As can be observed in Figure 3, the numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental results
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up to 320 W pump power. The gap between the numerical simulation and experimental curves for the
7 pump power of more than 320 W can be corresponded to the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) as a
8 loss factor and the change of thermal load in the pumped Nd:YAG slab [ 32,33]. The ASE is emitted from
9 the pumped Nd:YAG slab and is absorbed into the indium sheets [34, 35, 36]. This phenomenon increases
10 the temperature of the indium sheets and the slab end surface (Figure 1).
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12 The numerical simulation results in Figure 4 demonstrate the variations of OPD at x  0 and y  0 lines

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14 in different pump powers. It is clear that the difference between the maximum and minimum of OPD
15 curves increased massively via the growth of the thermal gradient in the slab width and thickness
16 directions.
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30 Figure 4. (a) OPD changes in X=0 and (b) OPD changes in Y=0 via different pump powers
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32 In Figure 5, the OPD distribution is computed by considering TDRI, elasto-optic effect and MD in the
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33 slab thickness and width directions at 420 W pump power.
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52 Figure 5. (a), (b) and (c) the proportion of TDRI, MD and elasto-optic effects upon OPD, is separately verified, (d) the OPD
53 chenges with the considering TDRI,elasto-optic effect and MD for the x- polarized prob
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55 The numerical results shown that the proportion of elasto-optic effect on calculated OPD was weak by
56 around  0.15m pale in comparison with Figure 5a and c. As is shown in Figures 4 and 5d, the
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changes of OPD in the slab thickness and width directions are not similar. Therefore, different math
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59 functions must be used to estimate the behavior of OPD in each direction. The changes of OPD due to
60 TDRI and MD are shown in Figure 6.
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17 Figure 6. (a) OPD variations in slab thickness direction, (b) OPD variations in slab width direction

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19 In Figure 6(a), the changes of OPD due to TDRI and MD are shown both individually and in
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21 combination in the slab thickness direction ( x  0 ). Every curve follows the circle function with
22 Rsq=0.997 and has its own special circle radius. Thus, each circle radius could be equivalent to a diopter
23 which obeys the thick lens relations [37]. The numerical calculation and experimental results of TL
24 diopter are shown in Figure 7.
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42 Figure 7. Numerical (TDRI (□), MD (○) and TDRI & MD (∆)), and experimental results (◊) of TL diopter at Nd:YAG slab
thickness direction versus different pump powers.
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Figures 6(a) and 7 show that the effect of the MD on the TL formation is more than that of TDRI in the
46 utilized Nd:YAG slab. By increasing the pump power, the experimental results grow much more than the
47 numerical results in which TDRI and MD effects are considered in combination. This difference can
48 depend on the increase of TL in the slab volume due to ASE effect and the change of thermal load. This
49 phenomenon can be reduced by the presence of a 1064 nm seed laser in the pumped-slab [27, 38].
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51 Figure 6(b) shows the changes of OPD due to TDRI and MD for 420 W pump power in the slab width
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direction ( y  0 ). Both the super-Gaussian and aspheric functions can estimate the behavior of OPD
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54 variations in the width direction with good accuracy (Rsq=0.9998). However, fitting the data with the
55 aspheric function leads to parameters with a high variation as shown in Table 1 for 4 different fitting sets,
56 while using the super-Gaussian function gives the same parameters which are tabulated in Table 2 for
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some individual fitting processes.
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4 Rcu(mm) k a1(mm-1) a2(mm-3) a3(mm-5) Rsq
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1 2.578  101 1.346  1.940  10 2  1.877  10 5  2.911  10 8 0.9998
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9 2 1.255  10 2 0.959  3.971  10 3  3.002  10 6 1.962  10 8 0.9998
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11 3 1.000  10 3 1.000  4.876  10 4  2.879  10 6 1.963  10 8 0.9998
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4 1.000  3.753  10 5  2.878  10 6 1.963  10 8 0.9998

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15 Table 1. Fitting the parameters of the aspheric function to estimate OPD variations in the slab width direction which is caused by
16 TDRI and MD simultaneously
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18 b(mm) c Rsq
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20 1 8.407  10 3 6.595 4.543 0.9998
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22 2 8.405  10 3 6.594 4.553 0.9998
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3 8.402  10 3 6.593 4.554 0.9998
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27 4 8.406  10 3
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6.594 4.552 0.9998
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29 Table 2. Fitting parameters of the super-Gaussian function to estimate the OPD variation in slab width direction due to TDRI and
MD simultaneously
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These math functions with Rsq=0.9998 can be used for the estimation of wavefront distortion in Nd:YAG
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slab amplifier [16, 17].
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35 As can be seen in Table 1, the changes of the fitting parameters of the aspheric function have a wide
36 interval. For example, Rcu is changed from 25 mm to 104 mm. Thus, there is an unlimited number of
37 aspheric functions with different parameters and Rsq=0.9998 for any pump power.
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39 In Table 2, contrary to the aspheric function, the super-Gaussian function has a much limited interval in
40 fitting parameters specially b and c whose changes are approximately 0.002 mm and 0.011, respectively.
41 This function can present a more comprehensive concept of the changes of OPD in the slab width
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direction with respect to the aspheric function.
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However, this behavior of OPD can be expected according to the LD output profile in the slow axis which
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46 is injected in the slab width direction by the pump beam delivery system.
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48 The super-Gaussian order of OPD changes can depend on the super-Gaussian order of LD beam profile in
49 the slab width direction as shown in Figure 7. Increasing the super-Gaussian order of OPD changes
50 corresponds to the reduction of the wavefront distortion of the slab amplifier output [16, 17].
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17 Figure 7. (a) the effect of slow axis super-Gaussian order of LD beam in 420 W pump power on the shape of changes of OPD, (b)
the super-Gaussian order of the changes of OPD and its effect on the beam quality of the output seed laser in the slab width

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direction (Y=0)
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21 Figure 7(a) compares the shapes of OPD variations in 420 W pump power with each other versus the
22 super-Gaussian order changing of LD beam in the slow axis. The dependence of OPD super-Gaussian
23 order and laser BQ on super-Gaussian order of LD beam is shown in Figure 7(b). The defined BQ is
24 F 1 2
25 BQ  ( ) where FDL and F are the fraction of power of the diffraction-limited beam and the
FDL
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27
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measured beam, respectively. Their fraction of power is located in the far-field bucket with a size equal to
28 the diffraction limited central lobe [39]. FDL and F are calculated through a fast Fourier transform (FFT)
29 method by utilizing a focusing lens with the focal length of 50 mm [16]. The numerical simulation results
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show that the super-Gaussian estimation not only is more suitable than the aspheric function to be used in
32 the slab amplifier optical design, but also can create the required conditions for the optimization of BQ
which is very sensitive to OPD distribution as shown in Figure 7(b). Therefore, with the growth of the
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34 super-Gaussian order of LD beam in slow axis from 3 to 4, BQ is modified from 2.78 to 2.32.
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36 5- Conclusion
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38 In this paper, a numerical technique was presented to estimate the changes of OPD with considering
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39 TDRI, elasto-optic effect and MD in Nd:YAG slab thickness and width directions. The changes of OPD
40 in the slab thickness direction follow a circle function as confirmed by the experimental results. In the
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42 slab width direction, both the aspheric and super-Gaussian functions with Rsq=0.9998 coincide suitably
43 with the numerical calculation data of the changes of OPD. The achievements of the super-Gaussian
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44 estimation are 1) a small interval of variations of fitting parameters to predict the changes of OPD in the
45 slab width direction and 2) predicting the BQ improvement of the amplifier output due to the increase in
46 the super-Gaussian order of LD beam in the slow axis. In particular, BQ improved from 2.78 to 2.32 via
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48 the increase of the super-Gaussian order of LD beam profile respectively from 3 to 4 in the slow axis. The
49 increase of the super-Gaussian order of LD beam profile likely decreases stress and temperature in the
50 slab volume due to the homogenization of pump power absorption in the slab as the active medium.
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References
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[1] Jae Sung Shin, Yong-Ho Cha, Gwon Lim, Yonghee Kim, Seong-Ouk Kwon, Byung Heon Cha, Hyeon Cheor Lee, Sangin Kim, Kwang
54
Uoong Koh, and Hyun Tae Kim, “Wavefront improvement in an end-pumped high-power Nd:YAG zigzag slab laser” Optics Express, Volume
55 25, Issue 16, pp. 19309-19319 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.25.019309.
56 [2] Rudolf Steiner, “Medical Applications of Mid-IR Solid-State Lasers”, Mid-Infrared Coherent Sources and Applications”, pp 575-588,
57 2008 Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6463-0_20.
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