Development of 100-kW laser diode module for 10-J x 10-Hz Nd:glass slab laser

High peak power laser diode arrays are required for pumping solid-state lasers toward the laser fusion driver. We will present a first successful achievement of a 100 kW peak power AlGaAs diode laser module as the pump source of 10 J X 10 Hz Nd:glass slab laser in order to verify a small scale experiment of the diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) driver for inertial fusion energy development. The total peak power of 110 kW was obtained at the diode current 120 A, the pulse width 200 microsecond and the duty cycle 0.2% (10 Hz). The peak intensity was more than 2.5 kW/cm2 on the average over the emitting area of 418 mm X 10 mm. The center wavelength of this device was 803 nm at the cooling water temperature 17 degrees Celsius, which designed in order to fit within the peak absorption line of Nd:glass (HAP-4) slab.