Abstract
In this chapter we will discuss the gain in energy for a light beam making a single pass through an optically active material. The use of lasers as pulse amplifiers is of great interest in the design of high-energy, high-brightness light sources. The generation of high-energy pulses is based on the combination of a master oscillator and multistage power amplifier. For the purpose of illustrating the amplifier concept and principles we assume a straightforward system, as shown in Figure 4.1. In this scheme an amplifier is driven by an oscillator which generates an initial light pulse of moderate power and energy. In the power amplifier with a large volume of active material the pulse power can grow, in extreme cases, up to 100 times.
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Koechner, W. (1976). Laser amplifier. In: Solid-State Laser Engineering. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol 1. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-8519-7_4
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