One megawatt blue-green laser by high-temperature plasma arrays

An output enhancement of blue-green laser with an array of multiple-stage hypocycloidal-pinch plasmas (HCP) has been achieved. The maximum untuned laser power obtained with LD490 dye (λ_p=500 nm) exceeded 1.97 MW with a pulse width of 0.69 μs (FWHM). The system was improved from earlier unit by adopting a large pump length, higher input energies, and an inverse-pinch switch. The thermal effect on laser medium was observed at high peak pump power. The characteristics of the pumping source and optical coupling configuration indicate that the system can be developed for repetitive and high average power operation (≳2 MW or 1 J).