Thin Disk Pump Modules

Thin Disk Pump Modules – Gain Media: The most critical component of a thin-disk laser is the thin, wafer-like crystal (typically Yb:YAG) used as the gain medium. Typically, the geometry of these disks is on the order of 150-300µm thick and around 15-25mm in diameter. The crystal’s front surface has an anti-reflective coating, while the back surface has a highly reflective coating. The entire back surface of this thin-disk laser crystal is mounted to a water-cooled heatsink. Given the high surface area to volume ratio and the parallel temperature gradient within the optic with respect to the incident beam, efficient heat transfer is inherent to the design. Because of this, the effects of thermal lensing are greatly minimized in thin-disk lasers. Finally, the reduction of thermal lensing effects allows for higher repetition rates, higher beam quality at higher power levels, and increased power conversion efficiency.

Pump Modules

The next most critical piece is the thin disk optical pumping module. The pumping module houses the thin-disk media, the heatsink it’s mounted on, and all other optics and supporting components. Multipass thin-disk modules direct the pump beam through the gain media many times. Utilizing a parabolic mirror and plane mirrors or prisms allows for this multipass pumping. Firstly, the disk media has an array of prisms surrounding it, with the parabolic mirror facing this array. Next, the pump beam reflects off the parabolic mirror, through the gain media, back to the mirror, bounces off the prisms, and repeats this process. These multiple passes allow for highly efficient gain in the thin-disk crystal medium.

Thin-disk technology is scalable in that pulse energy increases by increasing the pump beam size, and therefore you must also ensure a proper diameter of disk and heatsink for the increased beam size. High-power diode bars typically serve as the laser pumping source for thin-disk lasers.

Our Products

The pump modules we offer are designed for fiber-coupled pump beam delivery. Furthermore, acceptable pump beam wavelengths include 940nm and 969nm. Our pump modules do not come with the Thin Disk Gain Media included. However, they are compatible with the TD12 or TD20 options of gain media, which can be found here.

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In conclusion, if you have any questions or would like some assistance, please contact us here. Furthermore, you can call us at 636.272.7227 to talk to a knowledgeable Product Manager. Alternatively, you can also use the filters on this page to assist in narrowing down the selection. Finally, head to our Knowledge Center with our Lasers 101 page and Blogs and Whitepapers pages for further, in-depth reading.