High-power VCSEL-pumped slab laser with temperature fluctuation adaptability

A face-pumped Nd:YAG slab laser with high-power output and temperature fluctuation adaptability is proposed and demonstrated for the first time. A two-dimensional (2D) vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array at 808 nm with a low wavelength shift coefficient is used as the pump source with a total pump power of 1.38 kW. The array is cooled by a double-layer vascularized macro-channel heat sink for effective heat management. A 1064 nm maximum power of 437 W from the slab laser is obtained by optimizing the output coupling, and the power variation is only ±4.9% over the temperature range from 16 °C to 34 °C. The results show that the high-power slab laser pumped by VCSEL has an excellent performance in temperature tolerance and lower requirements for coolant, which is only water cooled by the macro-channel heat sink and no need for deionized water; it also provides a solution for high power lasers used in the complicated environment. Furthermore, it is possible to scale the output power to ~kW-level by further increasing the VCSEL pump power.