Transition-metal-doped thin-disk laser

1. Optical apparatus, comprising:

a Ti:sapphire gain-medium in the form of a thin-disk having first and second opposite surfaces, the gain-medium having an excited-state lifetime of about 3.2microseconds, and the thin-disk gain-medium being supported with the first surface thereof in thermal communication with a heat-sink;

a first mirror located between the first surface of the gain-medium and the heat-sink;

the first mirror being one minor of a plurality thereof forming an optical resonator including the thin-disk Ti:sapphire gain-medium;

a pump-laser arranged to deliver repeated pulses of radiation having a wavelength absorbed by the Ti:sapphire gain-medium, the pulses having a duration less than 1.0 microsecond; and

a multi-pass optical arrangement for causing each of the pump laser pulses to make a plurality of incidences on the second surface of the gain-medium with a fraction of the energy in the pulse being absorbed by the gain-medium on each incidence.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pump-laser pulses have an energy-per-pulse greater than about 5 millijoules and the pulses are delivered at a pulse-repetition frequency between about 1 and 100 kilohertz.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the optical resonator is a laser resonator, the pump-laser pulses energize the gain-medium causing laser radiation having a fundamental wavelength characteristic of the gain medium to circulate in the laser resonator, and the optical resonator is arranged to deliver the fundamental radiation as output radiation.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the optical resonator is terminated by the first minor and one other of the plurality of mirrors arranged to function as an output coupling minor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the optical resonator is a resonator of a regenerative amplifier and includes an optical-switch arrangement for switching seed-pulses from a seed-pulse laser into the resonator to be amplified by the gain medium, and switching amplified pulses out of the resonator as output pulses.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the optical resonator is a folded resonator the first minor functions as a fold-mirror of the resonator, and the resonator is terminated by another two of the plurality of minors.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the pump-laser pulses have an energy-per-pulse greater than about 5 millijoules and the pulses are delivered at a pulse-repetition frequency between about 1 and 100 kilohertz.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pump-laser pulses have a wavelength of about 532 nm.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including beam-forming optics between the pump-laser and the multi-pass optical arrangement, and wherein the multi-pass optical arrangement is arranged cooperative with the beam-forming optics such that the pump-laser pulses are incident on the second surface of the Ti:sapphire gain-medium in a pump-spot having a diameter greater than about 1 millimeter.

10. Optical apparatus, comprising:

a Ti:sapphire gain-medium in the form of a thin-disk having first and second opposite surfaces, the gain-medium having an excited-state lifetime of about 3.2microseconds, and the thin-disk gain-medium being supported with the first surface thereof in thermal communication with a heat-sink;

a first mirror located between the first surface of the gain-medium and the heat-sink;

the first mirror being an element of an optical amplifier including the thin-disk Ti:sapphire gain-medium;

a pump-laser arranged to deliver repeated pulses of radiation having a wavelength absorbed by the Ti:sapphire gain-medium, the pulses having a duration less than 1.0 microsecond; and

a multi-pass optical arrangement for causing each of the pump laser pulses to make a plurality of incidences on the second surface of the gain-medium with a fraction of the energy in the pulse being absorbed by the gain-medium on each incidence.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the pump-laser pulses have an energy-per-pulse greater than about 5 millijoules and the pulses are delivered at a pulse-repetition frequency between about 1 and 100 kilohertz.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the pump-laser is a frequency-doubled solid-state laser and the pump-laser pulse have a wavelength of about 532 nm.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , further including beam-forming optics between the pump-laser and the multi-pass optical arrangement, and wherein the multi-pass optical arrangement is arranged cooperative with the beam-forming optics such that the pump-laser pulses are incident on the second surface of the Ti:sapphire gain-medium in a pump-spot having a diameter greater than about 1 millimeter.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the pump-laser pulses have a duration less than about twice the excited-state lifetime, and an energy per-pulse greater than about 5 millijoules.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the optical amplifier is a regenerative amplifier with a plurality of minors including the first minor providing an optical resonator including the Ti:sapphire, thin-disk gain-medium, and wherein the optical resonator includes an optical-switch arrangement for switching seed-pulses from a seed-pulse laser into the resonator to be amplified by the gain medium, and switching amplified pulses out of the resonator as output pulses.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the pump-laser pulses have an energy-per-pulse greater than about 5 millijoules and the pulses are delivered at a pulse-repetition frequency between about 1 and 100 kilohertz.