Experimental 511W Composite Nd:YAG Ceramic Laser

We demonstrate a 511W laser diode pumped composite Nd:YAG ceramic laser. The optical pumping system is consisted of five laser diode stacked arrays arranged in a pentagonal shape around the ceramic rod whose size is Ф6.35×144mm. When the pumping power is 1600W, the cw laser output up to 511W at 1064nm can be obtained with a linear plano--plano cavity, and the optical-to-optical efficiency is 31.9%. To our knowledge, this is the highest value of laser output by using a newly invented composite Nd:YAG ceramic rod as the gain medium.