World's most powerful laser oscillator

Clock generator World's most powerful laser oscillator

2023-06-02 From Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Thomas Kuther 1 min Reading Time

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Scientists from Hamburg at the Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg (UniBw H) have developed a particularly powerful thin-disk laser oscillator.

The laser is housed in a compact monolithic case with an area of 0.7 m x 1.3 m and fits easily on a typical optical table. This novel architecture makes the oscillator portable and insensitive to the environment, leading to high operational stability and reproducibility – crucial for scientific high-end applications.(Image: Eric Schambroon) — The laser is housed in a compact monolithic case with an area of 0.7 m x 1.3 m and fits easily on a typical optical table. This novel architecture makes the oscillator portable and insensitive to the environment, leading to high operational stability and reproducibility – crucial for scientific high-end applications.
(Image: Eric Schambroon)

In contrast to laser amplifiers, laser oscillators generate and amplify laser radiation simultaneously from a single device.

The core of the new system consists of a laser amplification medium in a special thin-disk geometry and a special arrangement of mirrors that form the laser resonator. The laser can emit 14 million pulses per second, each pulse containing a peak power of 110 MW.

Such outstanding values could previously only be achieved through multiple amplifications with complex and huge laser systems. The new thin-disk oscillator developed by Prof. Oleg Pronin's team at the Chair of Laser Technology & Spectroscopy can now achieve these values with a much simpler setup and without additional amplification.

Deciphering the greatest mystery of modern physics

Thanks to its high peak power, the output radiation of the new oscillator can be converted into the deep UV spectral range, where currently no frequency-stable lasers exist. This type of deep UV laser will enable a new kind of extremely precise clock – a core clock – that could help scientists detect dark matter and unravel the biggest mystery of modern physics.

Moreover, once it comes to market, the newly developed instrument can offer further new application possibilities, e.g., in semiconductor measurement technology in the ultraviolet range or in high-end high-precision spectroscopy.

This article refers to the forthcoming publication in the scientific journal Optics Express: S. Goncharov, K. Fritsch, O. Pronin: "110 MW Thin-Disk Oscillator", Optics Express 31(11), (2023).

Link: Zur Helmut-Schmidt-Universität

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