A passive, Q-switched pulsed, Nd:YAG laser system was modeled, designed, and implemented to provide a reliable laser source for portable laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) systems instead the ordinary systems that are using laser pulses separated by some delay with microsecond order. The designed system consists of a Nd:YAG rod that is pumped by a flash lamp. Our choice for flash lamp as a pumping source based on the fact that flash lamps are fairly inexpensive and are capable of delivering enough amount of optical power in a short time span. We have successfully implemented a xenon-flashlamp-pumped Nd:YAG laser passively Q-switched with a Cr4+:YAG saturable absorber operates at 1064 nm contains a train of pulses having maximum with total output energy of 700 mJ . The pulse width of the train of pulses is about 37ns and the main output pulse train is within 550 μs. These laser shots were employed to enhance the LIBS signal. System verification was performed by LIBS measurements and analysis on different ancient ceramic samples belongs to different ancient Egyptian Islamic eras. The results showed highly robust and trusted information that can help archeologists in restoring and repairing different precious archeological objects.
In this paper, we present an enhanced model to predict the effect of thermal blooming and atmospheric turbulence, on high energy laser beams free space propagation. We introduce an implementation technique for the proposed mathematical models describing the effect of thermal blooming and atmospheric turbulence including wind blowing, and how it effect high power laser beam power, far field pattern, phase change effect and beam quality
. An investigated model of adaptive optics was introduced to study how to improve the wave front and phase distortion caused by thermal blooming and atmospheric turbulence, the adaptive optics model with Actuator influence spacing 3 cm the that shows observed improvement in the Strehl ratio and in wave front and phase of the beam. These models was implemented using cooperative agents relying on GLAD software package. Without taking in consideration the effect of thermal blooming It was deduced that the beam at the source takes the Gaussian shape with uniform intensity distribution, we found that the beam converge on the required distance 4 km using converging optics, comparing to the laser beam under the effect of thermal blooming the far field pattern shows characteristic secondary blip and “sugar scoop" effect which is characteristic of thermal blooming. It was found that the thermal blooming causes the beam to steer many centimeters and to diverge beyond about 1.8 km than come to a focus at 4 km where the beam assumed to be focused on the required target. We assume that this target is moving at v = (4,-4) m/sec at distance 4 km and the wind is moving at v = (-10,-10) m/sec, it was found that the effect will be strongest when wind and target movement are at the same velocity.
GLAD software is used to calculate the attenuation effects of the atmosphere as well as the phase perturbations due to temperature change in the air and effects caused as the beam crosses through the air due to wind and beam steering.
Diode side-pumped solid-state lasers have the potential to yield high quality laser beams with high efficiency and reliability. This paper summarizes the results of simulation of the most predominant active media that are used in high power diode pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser systems. Nd:YAG, Nd:glass, and Nd:YLF rods laser systems were simulated using the special finite element analysis software program LASCAD. A performance trade off analysis for Nd:YAG, Nd:glass, and Nd:YLF rods was performed in order to predict the system optimized parameters and to investigate thermally induced thermal fracture that may occur due to heat load and mechanical stress. The simulation results showed that at the optimized values Nd:YAG rod achieved the highest output power of 175W with 43% efficiency and heat load of 1.873W/mm3. A negligible changes in laser output power, heat load, stress, and temperature distributions were observed when the Nd:YAG rod length was increased from 72 to 80mm. Simulation of Nd:glass at different rod diameters at the same pumping conditions showed better results for mechanical stress and thermal load than that of Nd:YAG and Nd:YLF which makes it very suitable for high power laser applications especially for large rod diameters. For large rod diameters Nd:YLF is mechanically weaker and softer crystal compared to Nd:YAG and Nd:glass due to its poor thermomechanical properties which limits its usage to only low to medium power systems.
KEYWORDS: Semiconductor lasers, Diodes, Nd:YAG lasers, Diode pumped solid state lasers, Laser systems engineering, Resonators, Optical simulations, Systems modeling, High power lasers, Mirrors
This paper summarizes the results of simulation of a module for side-pumping a Nd:YAG rod. The module consists of three laser diode arrays separated by 120° rotation angle around the laser rod, where each array contains 10 emitters producing a maximum output power of 15 W at 808 nm wavelength. This high power diode pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser system was modeled in both LASCAD and GLAD simulators. LASCAD model was used to simulate the laser output power as a function of the total input power and the output mirror reflectivity. The model predicted an output power of 140 W given 400 W total input pump power with optical efficiency of 35%, in a good agreement with the published experimental results and similar commercially available CW DPSS laser systems. LASCAD was also used to model the temperature distribution inside the rod and to examine the heat load and thermally induced mechanical stress on the rod. Simulation in GLAD enabled a detailed analysis of the beam quality, beam size, and mode stability inside the resonator. GLAD models were used to simulate the pumping light distribution in the Nd:YAG rod for a single diode element, a single diode array, and three diode arrays. The GLAD shows that a stable multi-transverse mode "top hat" beam is formed after 30 passes through the resonator of the adopted high power DPSS laser system.
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