Highly efficient 110-W closed-cycle cryogenically cooled Nd:YAG laser operating at 946 nm

We report a new, to the best of our knowledge, record power and efficiency for a 946 nm Nd:YAG laser, producing >110 W (5 TWm(-2) sr(-1)) with a slope efficiency of 80%, with respect to absorbed pump power, and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 74%, with respect to incident power. To achieve this performance, we utilized a closed-cycle acoustic Stirling cryostat to maintain the gain medium temperature at similar to 80 K and direct in-band pumping with a volume-Bragg-grating stabilized diode laser bar operating at 868 nm. Daily operation, including cycling of the laser crystal temperature, akin to a comparable water-cooled solid-state laser system, is demonstrated. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.