The key technologies in the kW-class thin-disk laser

The thin-disk laser is promising in high average and peak power laser systems. Due to its high surface-to-volume ratio, the thin-disk laser has many advantages: low thermal lens, low brightness constraints for pump diodes, average and peak power scaling by increasing the beam cross section and negligible nonlinearities. In this letter, we report on our latest development of key technologies of the thin-disk laser, including the thin-disk crystal module, multi-pass pump scheme, thermal management and large-mode resonator technology. The small diameter thin-disk module with a 24 pump passes system and an efficient cooling module is realized. The optical path difference of the thin-disk module is measured. The key large-mode resonator technology is developed in an Nd:glass large-mode rod regenerative amplifier which delivers 125 mJ pulses at 1053 nm.