Injection-seeded high-power Yb:YAG thin-disk laser stabilized by the Pound-Drever-Hall method

TL;DR

This paper presents a stabilized, high-power, single-frequency Yb:YAG thin-disk laser using a modified Pound-Drever-Hall method, achieving robust operation, narrow linewidth, and suitable pulse characteristics for spectroscopy applications.

Contribution

The authors developed a novel PDH stabilization scheme for Yb:YAG lasers that prevents Trojan locking points, enabling reliable long-term, high-power, single-frequency laser operation.

Findings

50 mJ pulse energy with beam quality M^2 < 1.1

Spectral linewidth of 3.7 MHz confirmed by heterodyne measurement

Short pulse build-up time of 850 ns suitable for spectroscopy

Abstract

We demonstrate an injection-seeded thin-disk Yb:YAG laser at 1030 nm, stabilized by the Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) method. We modified the PDH scheme to obtain an error signal free from Trojan locking points, which allowed robust re-locking of the laser and reliable long-term operation. The single-frequency pulses have 50 mJ energy (limited to avoid laser-induced damage) with a beam quality of $\text{M}^2$ < 1.1 and an adjustable length of 55-110 ns. Heterodyne measurements confirmed a spectral linewidth of 3.7 MHz. The short pulse build-up time (850 ns) makes this laser suitable for laser spectroscopy of muonic hydrogen, pursued by the CREMA collaboration.