Thin disk laser with large numerical aperture pumping

1. An optical system, comprising:

a high power diode pump source producing a pump beam;

an end-pumped thin disk gain media; and

an optical coupler positioned between the diode pump source and the thin disk gain media, the optical coupler producing a modified pump beam with a large numerical aperture incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media, wherein the numerical aperture of the modified pump beam incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.35.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pump source has a power of at least 50 W.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pump source has a power of at least 200 W.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the numerical aperture of the modified pump beam incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.4.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the numerical aperture of the modified pump beam incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.5.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical coupler is selected from one or more of a funnel, a cylindrical lens to collimate a fast axis divergence of the pump source, several cylindrical lenses, a beam shaper, a lens duct, and a beam combiner.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a cooling device coupled to the cooling surface of the thin disk gain media.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the thin disk gain media is made of a stoichiometric gain material.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the thin disk gain media is made of a stoichiometric Yb 3+ material.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the stoichiometric Yb 3+ material is YbAG.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the stoichiometric Yb 3+ material is KYbW.

12. The system d claim 1 , wherein the thin disk gain media is made of a semiconductor material.

13. The system if claim 1 , wherein the diode pump source is a stack of diode bars.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical coupler is a non-imaging concentrator.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the non-imaging concentrator is a lens duct.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical coupler is a beam homogenizer.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the non-imaging concentrator is configured to convert a large pump beam with a low numerical aperture from the diode pump source into a smaller pump beam with a larger numerical aperture.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the non-imaging concentrator reduces a pump beam size from the diode pump source by a factor of at least two and the numerical aperture of the pump beam from the diode pump source increases by at least two.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the non-imaging concentrator is a hollow funnel.

20. An optical system, comprising:

at least first and second high power diode pump sources producing first and second pump beams;

an end-pumped thin disk gain media;

at least first and second optical couplers positioned between each of the diode pump sources and the thin disk gain media, the optical couplers producing modified pump beams with large numerical apertures; and

wherein the first and second modified pump beams are incident from substantially different directions at substantially the same location on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media, wherein the numerical aperture of the modified pump beam incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.35.

21. The system claim 20 , wherein the pump sources produce a power of at least 50 W.

22. The system of claim 20 , wherein the pump sources produce a power of at least 200 W.

23. The system of claim 20 , wherein the numerical aperture of each of the first and second modified pump beams incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.4.

24. The system of claim 20 , wherein the numerical aperture of each of the first and second modified pump beams incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.5.

25. The system of claim 20 , wherein the optical coupler is selected from one or more of a funnel, a cylindrical lens to collimate a fast axis divergence of the pump source, several cylindrical lenses, a beam shaper, a lens duct, and a beam combiner.

26. The system of claim 20 , further comprising: a cooling device coupled to the cooling surface of the thin disk gain media.

27. The system of claim 20 , wherein the thin disk gain media is made of a stoichiometric gain material.

28. The system of claim 20 , wherein the thin disk gain media is made of a stoichiometric Yb 3+ material.

29. The system of claim 28 , wherein the stoichiometric Yb 3+ material is YbAG.

30. The system of claim 28 , wherein the stoichiometric Yb 3+ material is KYbW.

31. system of claim 20 , wherein the thin disk gain media is made of a semiconductor material.

32. The system of claim 20 , wherein the diode pump source is a stack of diode bars.

33. The system of claim 20 , wherein the optical coupler is a non-imaging concentrator.

34. The system of claim 33 , wherein the non-imaging concentrator is a lens duct.

35. system of claim 20 , wherein the optical coupler is a beam homogenizer.

36. The system of claim 33 , wherein the non-imaging concentrator is configured to convert a large pump beam with a low numerical aperture from the diode pump source into a smaller pump beam with a larger numerical aperture.

37. The system of claim 33 , wherein the non-imaging concentrator reduces a pump beam size from the diode pump source by a factor of at least two and the numerical aperture of the pump beam from the diode pump source increases by at least two.

38. The system of claim 33 , wherein the non-imaging concentrator is a hollow funnel.

39. A method of pumping a thin disk gain media, comprising:

providing a high power diode pump source producing a pump beam;

passing the diode pump beam through an optical coupler positioned between the diode pump source and end pumping a thin disk gain media;

forming a modified pump beam with a large numerical aperture from the optical coupler, wherein the numerical aperture of the modified pump beam incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.35; and

positioning the modified pump beam at an incidence surface of the thin disk gain media.

40. The method of claim 39 , wherein the pump beam has a power of at least 50 W.

41. The method of claim 39 , wherein the pump beam has a power of at least 200 W.

42. The method of claim 39 , wherein the numerical aperture of the modified pump beam incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.4.

43. The method of claim 39 , wherein the numerical aperture of the modified pump beam incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.5.

44. The method of claim 39 , wherein the optical coupler is selected from one or more of a funnel, a cylindrical lens to collimate a fast axis divergence of the pump source, several cylindrical lenses, a beam shaper, a lens duct, and a beam combiner.

45. The method of claim 39 , further comprising: cooling a cooling surface of the thin disk gain media.

46. The method of claim 39 , wherein the thin disk gain media is made of a stoichiometric gain material.

47. The method of claim 39 , wherein the thin disk gain media is made of a stoichiometric Yb 3+ material.

48. The method of claim 47 , wherein the stoichiometric Yb 3+ material is YbAG.

49. The method of claim 47 , wherein the stoichiometric Yb 3+ material is KYbW.

50. The system of claim 48 , wherein the thin disk gain media is made of a semiconductor material.

51. The method of claim 39 , wherein the diode pump source is a stack of diode bars.

52. A method of materials processing, comprising:

providing a high power diode pump sources producing a pump beam;

providing thin disk gain media;

passing the diode pump beam through an optical coupler positioned between the diode pump source and end pumping thin a disk gain media;

forming a modified pump beam with a large numerical aperture from the optical coupler, wherein the numerical aperture of the modified pump beam incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.35;

positioning the modified pump beam at the incidence surface of the thin disk gain media;

amplifying the input beam to produce an output beam; and

directing the output beam to an article to be processed.

53. A method of pumping a thin disk gain media, comprising:

providing at least first and second high power diode pump sources producing first and second pump beams;

passing at least the first and second pump beams through at least a first and second optical coupler positioned between each diode pump source and end pumping a thin disk gain media;

forming at least a first and second modified pump beams with large numerical apertures from the optical couplers, wherein the numerical aperture of the modified pump beams incident on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media is greater than 0.35; and

positioning the first and second modified pump beams from substantially different directions at substantially the same location on the incident surface of the thin disk gain media.