TEM00 mode Nd:YAG solar laser by side-pumping a grooved rod

• A very simple and compact solar laser head is built and tested.
• Record-highTEM00 mode solar laser collection efficiency of 3.4 W/m2 and slope efficiency of 1.9% were achieved, being 1.8 and 2.4 times more than that of the previous records.
• A grooved Nd:YAG rod was used to ensure an excellent laser performance under high-flux solar pumping condition.

A simple TEM00 mode solar laser system with a grooved Nd:YAG rod pumped through a heliostat-parabolic mirror system is reported here. The radiation coupling capacity of a fused silica tube lens was combined with the multipass pumping ability of a 2 V-shaped cavity to provide efficient side-pumping along a 4.0 mm diameter grooved Nd:YAG single-crystal rod. TEM00 mode solar laser power of 3.4 W was measured by adopting an asymmetric large-mode laser resonant cavity. Record TEM00 mode solar laser collection efficiency of 3.4 W/m2and slope efficiency of 1.9% was achieved, which corresponds to 1.8 and 2.4 times more than the previous TEM00 mode Nd:YAG solar laser using the PROMES-CNRS heliostat-parabolic mirror system, respectively.