Design and construction of a CW Nd : YAG laser using a single elliptical cavity and water cooled krypton arc lamp pumping

Abstract

A CW Nd:YAG laser was designed and constructed using a water cooled krypton arc lamp as the pump source in a single elliptical cavity. Operational testing of the system could not be done due to technical problems with running the arc, but fluorescence measurements on the cavity were made using a tungsten filament lamp. The results were compared with those of previous projects which employed circular cylindrical cavities. The elliptical cavity did not have the highly reflective gold coating present on the other cavities, and was not designed for the tungsten lamp. Despite this, the elliptic cavity's fluorescence output was greater than that recorded for the multi-lamp configurations at the same input power levels. A detailed description of the design process used and sufficient information to implement recommendations and improve the overall system are given.