Theoretical and experimental investigation of an efficient pulsed barium tungstate Raman amplifier at 1180 nm

An efficient pulsed Raman amplifier at 1180 nm is studied by taking advantage of the barium tungstate (BaWO4) crystal. The Raman amplification ratios, the amplified Raman laser energies, and the Raman conversion efficiencies are investigated theoretically and experimentally. In the case of 200 mJ pumping pulse energy at 1064 nm and 8.0 mJ Raman signal energy, the highest amplified Raman energy obtained is 71.5 mJ and serious depletion of the pumping laser pulse is detected. The coupled radiation transfer equations are used to predict the performance of Raman amplifier. The theoretical results are in agreement with the experimental ones on the whole.