SPIE - Education High-Power Laser Technologies SC1207

This course starts with an overview on competing technologies for high-power solid-state laser sources, including bulk lasers, amplified and fiber-based sources. The primary topic is the analysis of performance potentials of different technologies in situations with different boundary conditions, such as continuous-wave operation with no restrictions or with high beam quality and/or a limited emission bandwidth, and the generation of intense laser pulses with nanosecond, picosecond or femtosecond durations. In this context, the concept of power scaling is given a meaningful basis, and scaling considerations are demonstrated in example cases.