High power Raman diamond laser

We developed a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG laser as the pump beam for a pulsed Raman laser based on CVD grown diamond crystals. The Q-switched cryogenic Yb-doped YAG 1030 nm pump laser delivered 340 W at 40 kHz with diffraction-limited beam quality, with an optical efficiency of 80%. The record average power of 24.5 W was generated from the Raman laser at 1193 nm. Modeling of the performance confirmed the corresponding Raman gain coefficient, 13.5 cm/GW. The laser was operated at room temperature and under cryogenic cooling at 77 K, with equal performance.