Patent ID: 8559472
Filing Date: 2013-10-15
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
1. Laser apparatus, comprising: a solid-state gain-medium in the form of a thin disk having first and second opposite surfaces, the gain-medium having a first mirror on the first surface thereof, and having a fundamental emission-wavelength within a gain-bandwidth of the gain medium; a standing-wave laser-resonator formed between the mirror on the thin-disk gain medium and a second mirror, the resonator having a longitudinal axis; a source of coherent pump-radiation, and wherein the first mirror is highly reflective of the fundamental emission wavelength and the wavelength of the pump radiation, the pump-radiation being directed into the thin-disk gain-medium via the second surface thereof at a first angle to the longitudinal axis such that the pump-radiation is incident on and reflected from the first mirror, thereby causing fundamental emission-wavelength radiation to circulate in the laser resonator and form a standing wave in the laser resonator, the first angle being selected such that the pump-radiation is incident on the first mirror at a predetermined second angle; interference between the incident and reflected pump radiation forms volumetric pump-radiation fringes, the pump-radiation fringes thereby forming corresponding volumetric gain-fringes in the gain-medium; and the second angle is selected such that peaks of the gain-fringes are aligned with antinodes of the standing wave of the fundamental emission-wavelength radiation, thereby maximizing gain at the fundamental emission-wavelength.