Single-rod Nd:laser with phase-conjugating SBS-mirror and large-transversal-mode for average output powers above 20 Watts

Summary form only given. The use of phase-conjugating mirrors facilitated a significant improvement in the performance of solid state lasers by compensating phase distortions from highly pumped laser rods. With master-oscillator double pass amplifier (MOPA) rod system average output powers of more than 100 Watts were reported. For industrial micromachining or marking average output powers of several ten Watts with diffraction-limited beam quality are required. For these purposes the laser should be as simple as possible. Thus we investigated possibilities of using phase-conjugating mirrors in solid-state rod laser resonators. Using Nd:YAG as active crystal an average output power of 10 Watts with almost diffraction-limited beam was reported.