Eyal Yacoby

Flowing-gas diode pumped alkali lasers: theoretical analysis of transonic vs supersonic and subsonic devices

We examine transonic diode pumped alkali laser (DPAL) devices as a simpler alternative to supersonic devices, suggested by B.D. Barmashenko and S. Rosenwaks [Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 141108 (2013)], where complex hardware, including supersonic nozzle, diffuser and high power mechanical pump, is required for continuous closed cycle operation. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics modeling of transonic (Mach number M ~0.9) Cs and K DPALs, taking into account the kinetic processes in the lasing medium is reported. The performance of these lasers is compared with that of supersonic (M ~2.5) and subsonic (M ~0.2) DPALs. For Cs DPAL the maximum achievable power of transonic device is lower than that of supersonic, with the same resonator and Cs density at the laser section inlet, by only ~3% implying that supersonic operation mode has only small advantage over transonic. On the other hand, for subsonic laser the maximum power is by 7% lower than in transonic, showing larger advantage of transonic over subsonic operation mode. The power achieved in supersonic and transonic K DPALs is higher than in subsonic by ~80% and ~20%, respectively, showing a considerable advantage of supersonic device over transonic and of transonic over subsonic.

Modeling of Flowing-Gas Diode-Pumped Potassium Laser With Different Pumping Geometries: Scaling Up and Controlling Beam Quality

Comprehensive analysis of the performance and beam quality of flowing-gas K diode-pumped alkali lasers (DPALs) with different pumping geometries, using 3-D computational fluid dynamics model, is presented. Recently, flowing-gas K DPAL with an output power of ~2 kW was reported and there is interest in developing multi-kilowatt DPALs. To study the possibility of scaling up the K DPAL, the model is applied to 100-kW class device with transverse and end pumping geometry. Dependence of the output power on the flow velocity and the pumping geometry is studied. Comparison between end and transverse pumping schemes shows that the output power is almost unaffected by the pumping geometry. However, the spatial intensity distribution of the output laser beam depends on the pumping geometry: it is uniform for the end pumping, whereas for the transverse pumping, it is strongly non-uniform at high gas temperature (corresponding to large density of K atoms), becoming more uniform with temperature reduction to an optimal value below which the output power begins to fall. The model is applied to the evaluation of the beam quality of flowing-gas K DPALs, which strongly depends on the refractive index distribution in the gain medium. The beam divergence and the width of the intensity profile in the far field for the end pumping appear to be much smaller than for the transverse pumping. Wave front corrections of the transversely pumped device using cylindrical lens result in substantial reduction of the laser beam divergence and improvement of its quality, which becomes comparable with that of the end pumped laser.

Modeling of static and flowing-gas diode pumped alkali lasers

Modeling of static and flowing-gas subsonic, transonic and supersonic Cs and K Ti:Sapphire and diode pumped alkali lasers (DPALs) is reported. A simple optical model applied to the static K and Cs lasers shows good agreement between the calculated and measured dependence of the laser power on the incident pump power. The model reproduces the observed threshold pump power in K DPAL which is much higher than that predicted by standard models of the DPAL. Scaling up flowing-gas DPALs to megawatt class power is studied using accurate three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model, taking into account the effects of temperature rise and losses of alkali atoms due to ionization. Both the maximum achievable power and laser beam quality are estimated for Cs and K lasers. The performance of subsonic and, in particular, supersonic DPALs is compared with that of transonic, where supersonic nozzle and diffuser are spared and high power mechanical pump (needed for recovery of the gas total pressure which strongly drops in the diffuser), is not required for continuous closed cycle operation. For pumping by beams of the same rectangular cross section, comparison between end-pumping and transverse-pumping shows that the output power is not affected by the pump geometry, however, the intensity of the output laser beam in the case of transverse-pumped DPALs is strongly non-uniform in the laser beam cross section resulting in higher brightness and better beam quality in the far field for the end-pumping geometry where the intensity of the output beam is uniform.

Supersonic diode pumped alkali lasers: Computational fluid dynamics modeling

We report on recent progress on our three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (3D CFD) modeling of supersonic diode pumped alkali lasers (DPALs), taking into account fluid dynamics and kinetic processes in the lasing medium. For a supersonic Cs DPAL with laser section geometry and resonator parameters similar to those of the 1-kW flowing-gas subsonic Cs DPAL [A.V. Bogachev et al., Quantum Electron. 42, 95 (2012)] the maximum achievable output power, ~ 7 kW, is 25% higher than that achievable in the subsonic case. Comparison between semi-analytical and 3D CFD models for Cs shows that the latter predicts much higher maximum achievable output power than the former. Optimization of the laser parameters using 3D CFD modeling shows that very high power and optical-to-optical efficiency, 35 kW and 82%, respectively, can be achieved in a Cs supersonic device pumped by a collimated cylindrical (0.5 cm diameter) beam. Application of end- or transverse-pumping by collimated rectangular (large cross section ~ 2 - 4 cm2) beam makes it possible to obtain even higher output power, > 250 kW, for ~ 350 kW pumping power. The main processes limiting the power of Cs supersonic DPAL are saturation of the D2 transition and large ~ 40% losses of alkali atoms due to ionization, whereas the influence of gas heating is negligibly small. For supersonic K DPAL both gas heating and ionization effects are shown to be unimportant and the maximum achievable power, ~ 40 kW and 350 kW, for pumping by ~ 100 kW cylindrical and ~ 700 kW rectangular beam, respectively, are higher than those achievable in the Cs supersonic laser. The power achieved in the supersonic K DPAL is two times higher than for the subsonic version with the same resonator and K density at the gas inlet, the maximum optical-to-optical efficiency being 82%.

3D CFD modeling of flowing-gas DPALs with different pumping geometries and various flow velocities

Scaling-up flowing-gas diode pumped alkali lasers (DPALs) to megawatt class power is studied using accurate three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model, taking into account the effects of temperature rise and losses of alkali atoms due to ionization. Both the maximum achievable power and laser beam quality are estimated for Cs and K lasers. We examined the influence of the flow velocity and Mach number M on the maximum achievable power of subsonic and supersonic lasers. For Cs DPAL devices with M = 0.2 - 3 the output power increases with increasing M by only ~20%, implying that supersonic operation mode has only small advantage over subsonic. In contrast, the power achievable in K DPALs strongly depends on M. The output power increases by ~100% when M increases from 0.2 to 4, showing a considerable advantage of supersonic device over subsonic. The reason for the increase of the power with M in both Cs and K DPALs is the decrease of the temperature due to the gas expansion in the flow system. However, the power increase for K lasers is much larger than for the Cs devices mainly due to the much smaller fine-structure splitting of the 2P states (~58 cm-1 for K and ~554 cm-1 for Cs), which results in a much stronger effect of the temperature decrease in K DPALs. For pumping by beams of the same rectangular cross section, comparison between end-pumping and transverse-pumping shows that the output power is not affected by the pump geometry. However, the intensity of the output laser beam in the case of transverse-pumped DPALs is strongly non-uniform in the laser beam cross section resulting in higher brightness and better beam quality in the far field for the end-pumping geometry where the intensity of the output beam is uniform.

Experimental studies and modeling of static Cs DPALs: dependence of the power and beam shape on different parameters

The pump-to-laser beam overlap and the cell length of static diode-pumped Cs lasers are crucial parameters for optimization of these lasers. In a previous publication we modeled the influence of the pump-to-laser beam overlap on the performance of Ti:Sapphire pumped cesium vapor laser (T. Cohen, E. Lebiush, I. Auslender, B.D. Barmashenko and S. Rosenwaks, Opt. Exp. 24, 14374 (2016)). In the present paper we report on experiments and modeling in progress on diode pumped cesium vapor laser.

Scaling up and controlling beam quality of flowing-gas diode pumped potassium laser with different pumping geometries: 3D CFD modeling

Comprehensive analysis of the performance and beam quality of subsonic flowing-gas K diode-pumped alkali lasers (DPALs) with different pumping geometries, using 3D computational fluid dynamics model, is reported. The model is first applied to a K DPAL with transverse pumping and parameters similar to those of the 1.5 kW K DPAL [Pitz et al, Proc. SPIE 9729, 972902 (2016)] and the calculated results are in satisfactory agreement with the measurements. To study the possibility of scaling up the K DPAL the model is then applied to 100-kW class device with transverse and end pumping geometry. Dependence of the output power on the flow velocity and the pumping geometry is studied. Comparison between end and transverse pumping schemes shows that the output power is almost unaffected by the pumping geometry. However, the spatial intensity distribution of the output laser beam depends on the pumping geometry: it is uniform for the end pumping, whereas for the transverse pumping it is strongly non-uniform at high gas temperature (corresponding to large density of K atoms), becoming more uniform with temperature reduction. The model is applied to evaluation of the beam quality of flowing-gas K DPALs which strongly depends on the refractive index distribution in the gain medium. The beam divergence and the width of the intensity profile in the far field for the end pumping appear to be much smaller than for the transverse pumping. Wave front corrections of the transversely pumped device using cylindrical lens results in substantial reduction of the laser beam divergence and improvement of its quality which becomes comparable with that of the end pumped laser.

3D CFD modeling of subsonic and transonic flowing-gas DPALs with different pumping geometries

Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (3D CFD) modeling of subsonic (Mach number M ~ 0.2) and transonic (M ~ 0.9) diode pumped alkali lasers (DPALs), taking into account fluid dynamics and kinetic processes in the lasing medium is reported. The performance of these lasers is compared with that of supersonic (M ~ 2.7 for Cs and M ~ 2.4 for K) DPALs. The motivation for this study stems from the fact that subsonic and transonic DPALs require much simpler hardware than supersonic ones where supersonic nozzle, diffuser and high power mechanical pump (due to a drop in the gas total pressure in the nozzle) are required for continuous closed cycle operation. For Cs DPALs with 5 x 5 cm2 flow cross section pumped by large cross section (5 x 2 cm2) beam the maximum achievable power of supersonic devices is higher than that of the transonic and subsonic devices by only ~ 3% and ~ 10%, respectively. Thus in this case the supersonic operation mode has no substantial advantage over the transonic one. The main processes limiting the power of Cs supersonic DPALs are saturation of the D2 transition and large ~ 60% losses of alkali atoms due to ionization, whereas the influence of gas heating is negligible. For K transonic DPALs both the gas heating and ionization effects are shown to be unimportant. The maximum values of the power are higher than those in Cs transonic laser by ~ 11%. The power achieved in the supersonic and transonic K DPAL is higher than for the subsonic version, with the same resonator and K density at the inlet, by ~ 84% and ~ 27%, respectively, showing a considerable advantaged of the supersonic device over the transonic one. For pumping by rectangular beams of the same (5 x 2 cm2) cross section, comparison between end-pumping - where the laser beam and pump beam both propagate at along the same axis, and transverse-pumping - where they propagate perpendicularly to each other, shows that the output power and optical-to-optical efficiency are not affected by the pump geometry. However, the output laser beam in the case of end-pumped DPALs has a homogeneous spatial intensity distribution in the beam cross section, whereas for transverse-pumped DPALs the intensity varies significantly along the pumping axis (perpendicular to the resonator optical axis) and hence is strongly inhomogeneous in the laser beam cross section. Thus, higher brightness and better beam quality in the far field is achieved for the end-pumping geometry. Optimization of the resonator geometry for minimal gas temperature rise and minimal intra-resonator intensity (corresponds to a low ionization rate) is also reported.